TABLE 4.

Association of maternal prepregnancy overweight or obese status with neonatal hepcidin from path analysis testing for mediation by neonatal iron status¹

	Indicator of cord iron status used as mediator
	Cord log serum ferritin concentration		Cord log soluble transferrin receptor concentration
Mediating variable: cord iron status	Coefficient	SE	Coefficient	SE
Direct effect	−0.13**	0.06	−0.19***	0.07
Indirect effect	−0.09*	0.05	−0.03	0.03
Total effect	−0.22***	0.08	−0.22***	0.08

¹ n = 405. Coefficients shown are standardized path coefficients. For the direct effect, the coefficient is the partial regression coefficient of maternal prepregnancy overweight or obese status on cord hepcidin, adjusting for cord iron status. The indirect effect is calculated as the product of the path coefficient between maternal prepregnancy overweight or obese status and cord iron status, and the path coefficient between cord iron status and cord hepcidin (i.e., the indirect effect of maternal prepregnancy overweight or obese status on cord hepcidin as mediated by iron status). The total effect is calculated as the sum of the direct and indirect effects. ^*,**,***Statistically significant point estimate: *P < 0.1, **P < 0.05, ***P < 0.01.