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.