In the original publication [1], the Institutional Review Board Statement and Informed Consent Statement were not included. The authors state that the scientific conclusions are unaffected. This correction was approved by the Academic Editor. The original publication has also been updated.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Ethical review and approval were waived for this study. This study strictly adhered to the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical review and approval were waived by the Institutional Review Board of Sun Yat-sen University in accordance with current Chinese regulations, as the research utilized fully anonymized and aggregated geographic and biochemical data devoid of personal identifiers (e.g., names, national ID numbers) and irreversibly disassociated from other databases, thereby complying with Article 16 of the Ethical Review Measures for Biomedical Research Involving Humans (National Health Commission Order No. 11, 2016), which exempts studies employing non-traceable anonymized data. Further supported by Article 4 of China’s Personal Information Protection Law (2021), anonymized data are legally excluded from personal information categories and unrestricted by personal data protection rules. The retrospective analysis focused on non-sensitive domains (e.g., environmental indicators and biochemical parameters), posed no greater than minimal risk to participants, and served public health objectives, aligning with Article 39 of the Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law of China (2020) for non-interventional public health research. Regarding human genetic resource data, the anonymized analyses adhered to Article 24 of the Regulations on Human Genetic Resources (State Council Order No. 717, 2019), which exempts anonymized data from ethical approval. All data were legally sourced, and the analytical protocols rigorously followed the Biosafety Law, Data Security Law, and technical standards of GB/T 35273-2020 Information Security Technology—Personal Information Security Specification to ensure compliance with national security and privacy requirements.
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent for participation was not required as per local legislation (Ethical Review Measures for Biomedical Research Involving Humans (2016, Article 16), Personal Information Protection Law (2021, Article 4), Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law (2020, Article 39), and Regulations on Human Genetic Resources (2019, Article 24)), as this study utilized fully anonymized and non-traceable data. All protocols complied with the Biosafety Law, Data Security Law, and GB/T 35273-2020 standards to ensure security and privacy compliance.
Reference
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