Data analysis
Continuous data were verified for normality using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. According to the distribution of the variables, descriptive statistics were reported as mean ± standard deviation or median and interquartile range (IRQ). Unpaired or paired t-test was employed for analyzing continuous data and the chi-squared test for categorical data. The Mann-Whitney U test was employed to compare the differences between two independent groups in case of dependent variables, which were not normally distributed. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% CI of (categorical or continuous) independent variables with one dichotomous dependent variable. Correlation measurements were tested using Spearman’s Rho test. A two-sided P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.