*2.5. Statistical Analysis*

Descriptive statistics were run on all data. Differences in demographic, anthropometric, and clinical parameters between PF&S and control participants were assessed via *t*-test statistics and χ−<sup>2</sup> or Fisher exact tests, for continuous and categorical variables, respectively. All tests were two-sided, with statistical significance set at *p* < 0.05. Analyses were performed using the GraphPrism 5.03 software (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA).

#### **3. Results**
