Table 2.

Baseline characteristics of the propensity-score-matched cohort.

Analysis	Cohort	Standard care	Nasal irrigation	Notes
Primary binary symptom analysis, VAS ≥3	Matched cohort	74	74	Main analysis
Longitudinal symptom-score GEE	Matched cohort	74	74	Four follow-up time points
Rescue-medication burden analysis	Matched cohort	74	74	Duration and total dose count
Imaging T/B ratio analysis	Matched cohort	74	74	Day 3 and day 7
Rescue medication use	Original cohort	30/92 (32.6%)	13/93 (14.0%)	n/%
Rescue medication use	Matched cohort	25/74 (33.8%)	10/74 (13.5%)	n/%
VAS ≥4 sensitivity analysis	Original cohort	29/92 (31.5%)	13/93 (14.0%)	Exploratory; not PSM-based