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Table 4 Summary of the total, direct, and indirect effects of potential mediators for differences in hip fracture risk between vegetarians and regular meat-eaters in the UK Biobank

From: Risk of hip fracture in meat-eaters, pescatarians, and vegetarians: a prospective cohort study of 413,914 UK Biobank participants

Vegetarians vs regular meat-eaters

Conditional effect, HR or % (95% CI)

 

Potential mediator

n/N

Total effect

Direct effect

Indirect effect

% mediation

BMI

2115/266,403

1.77 (1.34, 2.25)

1.51 (1.11, 2.03)

1.17 (1.00, 1.35)

27.8 (1.1, 69.8)

FFM

2056/262,679

1.68 (1.27, 2.13)

1.78 (1.19, 2.44)

0.95 (0.73, 1.21)

 − 10.5 (− 77.4, 44.8)

Vitamin D

1874/238,837

1.67 (1.26, 2.10)

1.61 (1.18, 2.13)

1.03 (0.86, 1.23)

6.5 (− 35.4, 45.6)

IGF-1

1949/248,163

1.63 (1.25, 2.06)

1.64 (1.25, 2.08)

1.00 (0.94, 1.06)

 − 0.8 (− 16.7, 14.4)

  1. All models controlled for age and were adjusted for the following (all at recruitment): region (England, Scotland, Wales), sex (male, female), ethnicity (white, black, Asian, mixed, other), Townsend deprivation index (continuous), live alone (yes, no), smoking (current, former, never), supplementation (yes, no), physical activity in MET-minutes per week (continuous), alcohol consumption in drinks per day (continuous), number of children (0, 1, 2, ≥ 3), menopausal status (premenopausal, postmenopausal), hormone replacement therapy (current, former, never), diabetes (yes, no), cancer (yes, no), cardiovascular disease (yes, no), and other fracture (yes, no). Models for vitamin D and IGF-1 were also adjusted for BMI, and the model for FFM was adjusted for height
  2. The natural indirect effect represents the estimated association of diet group and hip fracture risk through the potential mediator
  3. The natural direct effect represents the estimated association of diet group and hip fracture risk not through the potential mediator
  4. For each mediator, participants with missing values for that mediator or for relevant covariates were excluded from the analysis
  5. BMI body mass index, FFM fat-free mass, IGF-1 insulin-like growth factor-1, HR (95% CI) hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals)
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BMC Medicine

ISSN: 1741-7015

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