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Table 1 Estimates of the effect of a ten-fold increase in mercury exposure on two latent neurobehavioral functions obtained in different structural equation models.

From: Estimation of health effects of prenatal methylmercury exposure using structural equation models

 

p

Initial model

   

Motor function

-0.938

0.543

0.0841

Verbal function

-1.742

0.516

0.0007

Adjusted for local dependence

   

Motor function

-0.983

0.512

0.0550

Verbal function

-1.624

0.497

0.0011

Also adjusted for item bias

   

Motor function

-1.028

0.530

0.0525

Verbal function

-1.631

0.499

0.0011

ML estimation after full adjustment

   

Motor function

-1.004

0.542

0.0639

Verbal function

-1.777

0.531

0.0008

Inclusion of incomplete cases, full adjustment

   

Motor Function

-1.034

0.487

0.0339

Verbal Function

-1.623

0.517

0.0017

  1. True mercury exposure is expressed on the scale of the cord blood concentrations, the latent motor function is on the scale of NES finger tapping with preferred hand, while the verbally mediated function is expressed on the scale of the Boston Naming Test score with cues.