Statistical analysis
Categorical variables are presented as numbers and percentages. Continuous variables are presented as the mean ± standard deviation or median (interquartile). The chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables and Student’s t-test or Mann–Whitney U test was used for continuous variables, based on the normality of the data. Generalised estimating equations were used for repeated measures. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 25 and GraphPad Prism 9, with a significance level set at 0.05 (two-tailed).