2.4. Statistical Analysis
SPSS 25.0 was used to perform all statistical analyses. (IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software (Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp.)). Continuous variables were expressed using the mean, standard deviation (SD), and median (IQR: 25th–75th percentiles), while categorical variables were expressed using frequencies and percentages. Normality was determined using the Shapiro-Wilk test. When the parametric test assumptions were met, the independent samples test-test was used for group comparisons. When the parametric test assumptions were violated, the Mann—Whitney U test was used to compare independent groups. A parametric paired-samples test-test and a non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used for pairwise comparisons; 