Table 4.

Bone metabolism indices ($\overline{\mathrm{x}}\pm \mathrm{s}$)

Item	Experimental group (n = 66)	Control group (n = 40)	t	P
BGP (ng/mL)
Before treatment	3.39 ± 0.58	3.42 ± 0.61	0.253	0.801
After treatment	5.78 ± 1.26ab	4.13 ± 0.94a	7.157	0.000
OPG (pg/mL)
Before treatment	118.42 ± 12.37	120.51 ± 12.64	0.836	0.405
After treatment	232.85 ± 24.19ab	163.79 ± 17.38a	15.747	0.000
CTX-II
Before treatment	2.36 ± 0.27	2.41 ± 0.29	0.899	0.371
After treatment	0.94 ± 0.08ab	1.62 ± 0.18a	18.569	0.000
COMP
Before treatment	4.85 ± 0.62	4.90 ± 0.67	0.390	0.697
After treatment	2.59 ± 0.31ab	3.46 ± 0.48a	11.345	0.000
RANKL
Before treatment	84.73 ± 9.69	83.82 ± 9.44	0.473	0.637
After treatment	54.38 ± 5.77ab	72.95 ± 7.51a	14.307	0.000

Compared with before treatment, ^aP < 0.05; compared with control group, ^bP < 0.05. BGP bone gamma-carboxy glutamic acid-containing protein, COMP cartilage oligomeric matrix protein, CTX-II crosslinked c-telopeptide of type II collagen, OPG orthopantomography, RANKL cell nuclear factor κB acceptor activating factor ligand