Statistical analysis
The Shapiro-Wilks normality test showed that the data do not have a
normal distribution. Therefore, the data were expressed as median,
minimum, and maximum values, and independent samples were compared using
the Kruskal-Wallis test. The differences for all variables were
statistically significant. Graphically, the distribution of data is
shown in box graphs. The distribution of the measured values is shown
in a box graph. The horizontal line in the box shows the median value,
the lower edge of the box the value of the 1st quartile (25th
percentile), the upper edge the value of the 3rd quartile (75th
percentile). The terminals show the maximum and minimum measured values.
Outliers (values that are more than 1.5 times the interquartile range
from the quartiles) are plotted in circles. Extremes (values that are
more than 3 times the interquartile range from the quartiles) are
plotted with asterisks. All tests were performed at a significance level
of 0.05. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 statistical
software was used for statistical processing. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
In this study, ROC analysis was employed to assess the diagnostic
performance of the tested method. ROC curves were constructed to
evaluate the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity across
different threshold values. The optimal threshold point was determined
to maximize the diagnostic accuracy. The area under the ROC curve (AUC)
was calculated to quantify the overall discriminatory power of the
method. ROC analysis was used to aid in the evaluation and selection of
the most suitable diagnostic criteria for our study.