Data Analysis
Data were coded and recorded in MS Excel spreadsheet program. SPSS v23
(IBM Corp.) was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were
elaborated in the form of means/standard deviations and medians/IQRs for
continuous variables, and frequencies and percentages for categorical
variables. Group comparisons for continuously distributed data were made
using independent sample ‘t’ test when comparing two groups. If data
were found to be non-normally distributed, appropriate non-parametric
tests in the form of Wilcoxon Test were used. Chi-squared test was used
for group comparisons for categorical data. In case the expected
frequency in the contingency tables was found to be <5 for
>25% of the cells, Fisher’s Exact test was used instead.
Linear correlation between two continuous variables was explored using
Pearson’s correlation (if the data were normally distributed) and
Spearman’s correlation (for non-normally distributed data). Statistical
significance was kept at p < 0.05.