Differences across groups were analyzed by one-way analysis of
variance followed by post-hoc Tukey comparison between groups.
Repeatability of the fibrocyte counts over one week was assessed by
Student's t test for paired data, correlation analysis and calculation of
the intra-class correlation coefficient as a reliability index (oneway random effect model) . Agreement between fibrocyte counts determined in fresh and stored blood samples was assessed by linear regression analysis, Student's t test for paired data and calculation of the concordance correlation coefficient . The Bland–Altman plots were constructed to display repeatability of fibrocyte counts and the between-method comparison results . The association between fibrocyte counts and clinical variables was assessed by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient or the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, as appropriate. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Fibrocyte counts by group were reported as the means, standard deviations and 95% confidence intervals .