Table 1.

Basic clinical information of the study patients

Variables	Total (n = 116)	Group C (n = 58)	Group S (n = 58)	Comparisons between groups
				P-value	Test value	df	95% CI
Gender
Male	65 (56)	33 (57)	32 (55)	0.8516 (X2-test with Yate’s corrections)	0.035	1	0.7165 to 1.497 (using the approximation of Katz.)
Female	51 (44)	25 (43)	26 (45)
Age (years)	30.96±9.49	30.26±8.37	31.66±10.51	0.4303 (Unpaired t test with Welch correction)	0.7916	108	-2.100 to 4.894
Disease course (months)	52.79±27.98	51.34±24.82	54.24±30.97	0.5795 (Unpaired t test with Welch correction)	0.5558	108	-7.433 to 13.226
Erythema	3 (3-2)	3 (3-2)	3 (3-2)	0.8068 (Mann-Whitney test)	1,638	N/A	N/A
Keratinization	2 (3-2)	2 (3-2)	2.5 (3-2)	0.6268 (Mann-Whitney test)	1,595	N/A	N/A
Scales	2 (3-2)	2 (3-2)	2 (3-2)	0.5333 (Mann-Whitney test)	1,541	N/A	N/A
Chapping	2 (2-1)	2 (2-1)	2 (2-1)	0.5449 (Mann-Whitney test)	1,573	N/A	N/A
Total scores	8.95±1.32	8.83±1.43	9.07±1.98	0.3261 (unpaired test; df: 114)	0.9863	N/A	N/A

Erythema: 0: no erythema; 1: mild erythema; 2: moderate erythema; 3: severe erythema. Keratinization: 0: keratinization; 1: mild keratinization; 2: moderate keratinization; 3: severe keratinization. Scales: 0: no scales; 1: mild scales; 2: moderate scales; 3: severe scales. Chapping: 0: no chapping; 1: mild chapping; 2: moderate chapping; 3: severe chapping. A higher total score represented a more severe skin lesion. Variables are presented as frequencies (percentages) or mean ± standard deviation or median (Q3-Q1). Test value (X²-value for X²-test; Welch’s approximate for unpaired t-test with Welch correction; Mann-Whitney U-statistic for Mann-Whitney test). df: degree of freedom; CI: confidence interval; N/A: not applicable. P < 0.05 was considered as the criterion of remarkable discrepancies.