Fig. 3

VAS scores at rest (A) and coughing (B). VAS scores at different postoperative time points are represented by box-and-line plots. The solid line in the box indicates the median, the plus sign (+) indicates the mean, the box indicates the interquartile range, and the whisker bars indicate the minimum and maximum values. VAS, visual analogue scale; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ns: p > 0.05