The impact of colon injuries on the outcome of gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

"Declarations Ethics approvalObtained from the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health Sciences, Research Ethics Committee (reference no: 789/2019). Conflict of interestThe authors declare no competing interests. Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests."

"Funding Open access funding provided by University of Pretoria."

"Informed consent was obtained from patients on admission by the admitting/ operating doctor, provided the patient had a Glasgow coma scale of 15/15, or at any time during their hospital stay once they were stable. If the patient was unable to consent then the next of kin or the custodian of data, i.e. the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the respective hospital, was requested for informed consent. Consent was also obtained from all the relevant hospitals in order to perform the research. The research was registered with the Nation Health Research Database (NHRD), South Africa (registration number GP_202002_002). This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health Sciences, Research Ethics Committee (reference no: 789/2019)."