Fig. 4

Correlations between cross-sectional and longitudinal metabolic associations of pregnancy. Left panel, linear fit to summarise the correspondence between cross-sectional (pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women) and longitudinal associations for women pregnant at follow-up but not at baseline (in comparison to women non-pregnant at both time points). Right panel, linear fit to summarise the correspondence between cross-sectional and longitudinal associations for women pregnant at baseline but not at follow-up (in comparison to women non-pregnant at both time points). Each point represents a single metabolic measure. Horizontal and vertical grey lines denote 95% CIs for the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations, respectively. The grey shaded areas serve to guide the eye for the slope. A linear fit for the overall correspondence summarises the match between cross-sectional and longitudinal associations, with R² denoting the goodness of fit. A slope of ±1 and R² = 1 would strongly support the causal effects of pregnancy on the metabolic measures. C cholesterol, CI confidence interval, DHA docosahexaenoic acid, FA fatty acids, HDL high-density lipoprotein, IDL intermediate-density lipoprotein, LDL low-density lipoprotein, PL phospholipids, PUFA polyunsaturated fatty acids, SD standard deviation, TG triglycerides, VLDL very-low-density lipoprotein