*2.9. Statistics*

Statistical analyses of clinical subjects were performed using Stata 16.1 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, USA), and for rHDL, the GraphPad Prism software version 8.4.3 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). Categorical variables were expressed as numbers and percentages, and the *p* value for differences between two groups was determined using the Chi-square test. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD), unless otherwise specified. The *p* value for differences between two groups was determined by an unpaired Student's t-test or the Mann–Whitney test according to the data distribution and normality. Differences between multiple groups were determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey's or Dunnett's multiple comparisons test, as applicable. The relationships between the two numerical variables were investigated using a simple linear regression analysis. We report Spearman's rho with corresponding *p* values. Statistical significance was set at *p* < 0.05.
