Fig. 2

Diagnostic group comparisons and relationships between variables. A, Box plots of Age, ADA, and LDH from left to right, showing the distribution of each variable across diagnostic groups, with outliers indicated. P-values for the differences between groups are calculated using Kruskal–Wallis tests. B, Dunn test heatmap displaying pairwise comparisons between diagnostic groups for Age, ADA, and LDH. The heatmap shows the significance of pairwise differences, with darker colors representing stronger statistical significance. MPE, malignant pleural effusion, TPE, tuberculous pleural effusion, PPE, parapneumonic pleural effusion. C, Scatter plots from left to right illustrating the relationships between Age and ADA, Age and LDH, and ADA and LDH. The plots include fitted curves and Pearson correlation coefficients to highlight the strength and direction of the associations between variables