*4.9. Statistical Analysis*

Analyses were performed using SPSS-22 software (SPSS-IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Since most variables did not fulfill the normality hypothesis, the Mann–Whitney U-test for nonparametric data was used to analyze differences between groups, and analysis of variance followed by Wilcoxon tests were used for within group analyses. The significance level was set at *p* < 0.05.
