Serum CXCL16 Biomarker Analysis

All analyses were performed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 13.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL), and the statistical analysis was done similarly as described by Lin Z. et al[15] (link). Normally distributed data were expressed as mean ± SD. Data that were not normally distributed, as determined using the Kolmogorox-Smirnov test, were logarithmically transformed before analysis and expressed as the median with interquartile range. Student's unpaired t-test was used for comparison between the two groups. Pearson's correlations were used for comparisons between groups when appropriate, and multiple testing was corrected using Bonferroni correction. The variables which correlated significantly with serum CXCL16 (after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing) were selected to enter into stepwise logistic regression. In all statistical tests, P-values <0.05 were considered significant.