Table 4 Mediation of the association between maternal education and cardiovascular risk factors by DXA-assessed total fat mass: standardised direct and indirect effects of maternal education

From: Are there socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular risk factors in childhood, and are they mediated by adiposity? Findings from a prospective cohort study

Cardiovascular risk factor

Boys, N=3809

Girls, N=3913

 

Total effect (95% CI) a

Indirect effect (95% CI) b

Total effect (95% CI) a

Indirect effect (95% CI) b

Cholesterol (mmol l–1)

0.030 (−0.10 to 0.070)

0.009 (0.004 to 0.015)

0.030 (−0.012 to 0.073)

0.014 (0.008 to 0.020)

Triglycerides (mmol l–1)

0.004 (−0.036 to 0.044)

0.011 (0.005 to 0.017)

0.014 (−0.027 to 0.055)

0.026 (0.017 to 0.034)

High-density lipoprotein (mmol l–1)

0.012 (−0.028 to 0.052)

−0.014 (−0.022 to −0.007)

−0.031 (−0.071 to 0.009)

−0.030 (−0.039 to −0.020)

Apolipoprotein A1 (mg per 100 ml)

0.033 (−0.007 to 0.073)

−0.007 (−0.011 to −0.002)

−0.001 (−0.041 to 0.039)

−0.018 (−0.025 to −0.011)

Apolipoprotein B (mg per 100 ml)

0.042 (0.002 to 0.082)

0.015 (0.007 to 0.023)

0.063 (0.022 to 0.10)

0.025 (0.016 to 0.033)

Adiponectin (mg ml–1)

0.022 (−0.018 to 0.062)

−0.001 (−0.004 to 0.002)

−0.022 (−0.062 to 0.019)

−0.016 (−0.023 to −0.010)

Systolic blood pressure

0.10 (0.068 to 0.13)

0.021 (0.010 to 0.031)

0.095 (0.064 to 0.13)

0.037 (0.026 to 0.049)

Diastolic blood pressure

0.069 (0.036 to 0.10)

0.012 (0.006 to 0.019)

0.083 (0.050 to 0.12)

0.022 (0.015 to 0.029)

Logged C-reactive protein (mg l–1)a

0.031 (−0.008 to 0.070)

0.028 (0.014 to 0.041)

0.063 (0.024 to 0.10)

0.052 (0.037 to 0.068)

Logged leptin (ng ml–1)a

0.047 (0.012 to 0.082)

0.051 (0.026 to 0.076)

0.086 (0.052 to 0.12)

0.086 (0.060 to 0.11)

Logged interleukin-6 (pg ml–1)a

0.043 (0.004 to 0.083)

0.13 (0.006 to 0.020)

0.046 (0.005 to 0.086)

0.026 (0.017 to 0.035)

  1. Abbreviation: CI, confidence interval.
  2. a Total effect: the total effect of maternal education on the cardiovascular risk factor.
  3. b Indirect effect: the effect of maternal education on the cardiovascular risk factor that is mediated through DXA-assessed total fat mass.
  4. N=7722 participants with multivariate imputation.
  5. All analyses adjusted for age, height and height squared.
  6. Results are standardised coefficients from simultaneous linear regressions in path analysis, so they estimate the change in s.d. of cardiovascular risk factor associated with a one s.d. increase in maternal education.
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