Table 5.

Mediation of proteins on the association between RDW and all-cause mortality in adults without medical conditions (sorted by p-values in indirect association).

	Mediator		Total association of RDW with all-cause mortality				Direct association of RDW with all-cause mortality				Indirect association of RDW with all-cause mortality through mediator				Proportion mediated
Rank	Target	EntrezGene Symbol	β	95%CI		p-value	β	95%CI		p-value	β	95%CI		p-value
Cross-sectional analysis†
1	TrkB	NTRK2	0.85	0.76	0.96	0.01	0.89	0.79	1.005	0.06	0.96	0.93	0.99	0.01	54.5%
2	KLRF1	KLRF1	0.86	0.76	0.96	0.01	0.88	0.78	0.997	0.04	0.97	0.95	0.99	0.02	51.7%
3	ERBB1	EGFR	0.87	0.77	0.98	0.02	0.89	0.79	1.01	0.06	0.97	0.94	0.99	0.02	53.3%
4	TrkC	NTRK3	0.86	0.77	0.97	0.02	0.89	0.79	1.003	0.06	0.97	0.95	0.996	0.02	52.3%
5	Growth hormone receptor	GHR	0.85	0.75	0.96	0.01	0.88	0.78	0.99	0.04	0.96	0.93	0.996	0.03	52.7%
6	LRP1B	LRP1B	0.87	0.77	0.99	0.03	0.89	0.79	1.01	0.07	0.98	0.96	0.999	0.04	51.6%
7	IGFBP-2	IGFBP2	0.87	0.77	0.98	0.02	0.88	0.78	0.99	0.04	0.99	0.97	0.9998	0.05	49.3%
Longitudinal analysis‡
1	TFF3	TFF3	0.36	0.08	1.66	0.19	0.55	0.11	2.78	0.47	0.66	0.44	0.98	0.04	43.9%
2	IGFBP-2	IGFBP2	0.31	0.06	1.52	0.15	0.42	0.08	2.09	0.29	0.74	0.55	0.99	0.04	33.0%

Protein-specific accelerated failure time model with exponetial estimation. RDW-mediator (one protein) associations were modeled with multivariable linear regression model. All models were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status (current smoker or not), education level (6-year education or higher education or not), and haemoglobin.

^†RDW and proteins were measured at baseline. Outcome was 15-year all-cause mortality.

^‡Longitudinal changes in RDW and proteins were calculated from {(9-year follow-up visit - baseline visit)/exact time intervals in each participant}. Outcome was 6-year all-cause mortality from 9-year follow-up visit.