2.7. Statistical Analysis
Baseline characteristics are reported as counts and percentages or mean ± standard deviation (SD). The chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. Comparison of means between multiple groups was performed using analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni's posthoc tests. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software v25.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). 