. 2010 Feb;140(2):338–347. doi: 10.3945/jn.109.113878

TABLE 5.

Structural equations model findings for CES-D score as predicted by plasma folate (Z- score) and dietary intake of folate (Z-score) or diet quality (HEI_total or components of HEI, raw values), stratified by sex (HANDLS study)¹

	Men, n = 734			Women, n = 947
	α	± SE	t-Statistic	α	± SE	t-Statistic
Model 1: overall diet quality (HEI_total)
Path coefficients from HEI_total
HEI_total → folate_plasma (α₁₂)	+0.012	±0.003	4.234^b	+0.014	±0.002	6.057^b
HEI_total → CES-D (α₁₃)	−0.035	±0.025	−1.418	−0.070	±0.023	−3.007^b
Path coefficient from folate_plasma
Folate_plasma → CES-D (α₂₃)	−0.606	±0.306	−1.982^b	−0.355	±0.313	−1.135
Fit statistics	RMSEA = 0.0373; 90% CI:0.0220–0.0522; AGFI = 0.9586			RMSEA = 0.0296; 90% CI:0.0131–0.0448; AGFI = 0.9710
Model 2: dietary folate
Path coefficients from dietary folate
Dietary folate → Folate_plasma (α₁₂)	+0.157	±0.027	5.872^b	+0.256	±0.032	7.892^b
Dietary folate → CES-D (α₁₃)	−0.407	±0.224	−1.813^a	−0.203	±0.329	−0.616
Path coefficient from folate_plasma
Folate_plasma → CES-D (α₂₃)	−0.571	0.300	−1.903^a	−0.426	±0.318	−1.339
Fit statistics	RMSEA = 0.0378; 90% I:0.0227–0.0526; AGFI = 0.9590			RMSEA = 0.0385; 90% CI:0.0256–0.0517; AGFI = 0.9625
Models 3.1–3.12: diet quality components (HEI_k)
Path coefficients from HEI_k
HEI_k → folate_plasma (α_12k)
K = 1	+0.052	±0.020	+2.608^b	+0.073	±0.017	+4.143^b
K = 2	+0.064	±0.018	+3.529^b	+0.081	±0.016	+5.120^b
K = 3	+0.057	±0.025	+2.278^b	+0.014	±0.021	+0.672
K = 4	+0.057	±0.025	+2.240^b	+0.040	±0.019	+2.168^b
K = 5	+0.110	±0.032	+3.483^b	+0.093	±0.027	+3.469^b
K = 6	+0.146	±0.028	+5.307^b	+0.100	±0.022	+4.538^b
K = 7	+0.068	±0.012	+5.671^b	+0.047	±0.010	+4.511^b
K = 8	−0.036	±0.018	−1.948^a	−0.034	±0.015	−2.331^b
K = 9	+0.002	±0.011	+0.211	+0.017	±0.009	+1.833^a
K = 10	−0.001	±0.010	−0.111	+0.011	±0.009	+1.216
K = 11	−0.028	±0.012	−2.384^b	−0.000	±0.010	−0.160
K = 12	+0.024	±0.005	+4.431^b	+0.024	±0.005	+5.042^b
HEI_k → CES-D (α_13k)
K = 1	−0.322	±0.165	−1.946^a	−0.192	±0.170	−1.124
K = 2	−0.224	±0.151	−1.482	−0.207	±0.156	−1.327
K = 3	−0.269	±0.204	+1.231	−0.816	±0.197	−4.149^b
K = 4	−0.396	±0.206	−1.917^a	−0.657	±0.178	−3.683^b
K = 5	+0.141	±0.257	+0.551	+0.481	±0.258	+1.860^a
K = 6	−0.095	±0.235	−0.404	+0.317	±0.216	+1.472
K = 7	−0.041	±0.100	−0.411	+0.012	±0.098	+0.126
K = 8	−0.225	±0.145	−1.544	−0.034	±0.015	−2.331^b
K = 9	−0.040	±0.087	−0.457	−0.094	±0.088	−1.061
K = 10	+0.079	±0.080	0.985	+0.009	±0.082	−0.113
K = 11	+0.20	±0.10	2.073^b	+0.054	±0.096	+0.570
K = 12	−0.075	±0.046	−1.637	−0.106	±0.046	−2.304^b
Path coefficient from folate_plasma
Folate_plasma→ CES-D (α₂₃)
K = 1	−0.621	±0.295	−2.104^b	−0.457	±0.307	−1.490
K = 2	−0.645	±0.291	−2.215^b	−0.436	±0.308	−1.413
K = 3	−0.653	±0.296	−2.208^b	−0.587	±0.304	−1.932^a
K = 4	−0.647	±0.294	−2.202^b	−0.439	±0.303	−1.450
K = 5	−0.746	±0.294	−2.538^b	−0.567	±0.306	−1.853^a
K = 6	−0.653	±0.300	−2.175^b	−0.565	±0.309	−1.828^a
K = 7	−0.664	±0.150	−2.227^b	−0.512	±0.310	−1.654^a
K = 8	−0.734	±0.293	−2.503^b	−0.669	±0.302	−2.211^b
K = 9	−0.710	±0.292	−2.430^b	−0.483	±0.305	−1.586
K = 10	−0.710	±0.292	−2.429^b	−0.499	±0.304	−1.640
K = 11	−0.738	±0.292	−2.523^b	−0.645	±0.298	−2.167^b
K = 12	−0.630	±0.298	−2.112^b	−0.390	±0.308	−1.270

Full models with all associations (arrows) estimated were reduced using a type I error of 0.10. Exogenous parameters other dietary factors that were nonsignificant were fixed to zero. Reduced models are presented and exogenous variables that were considered as potential confounders in all equations (not shown) included sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (see Table 3 for details). ^aP < 0.10; ^bP < 0.05 for null hypothesis that path coefficient α = 0.