Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses and randomization were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (ver.19.0; SPSS Inc.). Data were presented as the number of categorical variables or as mean ± standard deviation (mean ± SD) or median values (minimum-maximum) and interquartile range (IQR) for continuous variables. Chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test compared groups for categorical variables. Comparisons were conducted using the Student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney U-test for continuous variables, one-way ANOVA analysis of variance, or the Kruskal-Wallis test. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between inflammatory markers and 