"Potential confounders" refers to factors that can affect the relationship between two variables being studied. These factors have the ability to distort or confuse the true association between the variables being researched. Full definition
People with all three symptoms of insomnia were 2.8 times more likely to die from a fatal injury than those with no insomnia symptoms, even after adjusting for potential confounders such as alcohol consumption and daily use of sleep medication. (sciencedaily.com)
We include as potential confounders any variable that has been shown to be associated with bullying and has also been shown to be associated with any of the 3 main predictors. (jamanetwork.com)
Both were addressed through multi-level modelling, which controlled for pretest differences (and other potential confounders over time) and provided robust maximum likelihood estimates of missing data. (longwoods.com)