Analysis of results, and statistics
Variable analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, with the calculation of mean and standard deviation or median and interquartile range in quantitative variables, and absolute and relative frequency in qualitative variables. To compare means, Student’s t test was used, and, for proportions, Pearson’s chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. To test the hypothesis of homogeneity of the two groups, Student’s t test was used for independent samples for quantitative variables, and the chi-square test for homogeneity was used for categorical variables. To assess the effect of the intervention, the three effect models of the generalized estimating equations (GEE)