Statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics were calculated as means, standard deviation (SD), medians, interquartile range (IQR), frequencies and percentages. Comparisons between the two study groups were performed using Mann-Whitney U test, while comparisons between different timepoints within each group were performed using Friedman test, followed by multiple pairwise comparisons using Bonferroni adjusted significance level. Significance was set at p value < 0.05. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows (Version 26.0).