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Table 3 Mediation analysis showing percentage contribution of CV risk factors to the association between GDM and CVD in two settings: (i) all women and (ii) excluding women who developed diabetes

From: Mediating effect of vascular risk factors underlying the link between gestational diabetes and cardiovascular disease

CV risk factor

All women (% mediation)

Excluding women who developed DM (% mediation)

Total cholesterol

− 0.1% (− 0.6–0.3)

4.7% (2.2–14.4)

LDL cholesterol

0.0% (− 0.6–0.6)

9.9% (5.6–30.5)

HDL cholesterol

25.2% (21.3–30.7)

40.8% (24.7–120.1)

Triglycerides

12.1% (9.7–15.6)

21.0% (11.7–73.8)

A1c

56.0% (47.4–67.8)

28.6% (16.1–74.3)

Fasting glucose

47.4% (38.8–60.8)

37.7% (20.3–152.3)

  1. The mediation analysis shows how much the relationship between GDM and CVD is changed by adding the mean value for each cardiovascular risk factor to an adjusted model. For example, adjusting for mean total cholesterol had a negligible effect on the relationship between GDM and CVD, whereas adjustment for mean HDL cholesterol had a much greater impact. Since each risk factor was tested independently of the others, the % mediation can add up to more than 100%. Data are presented as estimated percentage mediation followed by 95% confidence interval in parentheses
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BMC Medicine

ISSN: 1741-7015

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