2.6 Statistical analysis
JMP 14 statistical software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA) was used for the statistical analysis. Continuous parameters were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. Two-group comparisons were analyzed by an unpaired 2-tailed Student’s t test. Categorical data were expressed as the number (percentage) and were compared using the Chi-square test. A multiple-group comparison was performed by a one-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey-Kramer HSD test for a comparison of the means.
RESULTS