Data analysis
Data entry was performed using Excel 2010 software (Microsoft Excel Corp., USA), and data were analyzed with SPSS version 24 for Windows (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). The comparison of proportions, medians, and means was carried out using Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, and Student t-tests. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the survival curve, the incidence of treatment drop-out, and loss of follow-up. Logistic regression looked for independent determinants of treatment refusal. Cox regression looked for independent predictors of mortality, treatment dropout, and loss of follow-up. A value of p < 0.05 was considered the threshold of statistical significance.