Researchers examined whether daily paternal alcohol consumption during the partner's pregnancy is associated with neonatal birth length. They reported that their results were "adjusted for potential confounders." What is the most accurate interpretation of this phrase in the context of their analysis?

"Adjusted for potential confounders" means the investigators excluded all participants who had any other risk factors, so the final sample contains only fathers who drank and no other exposures.

"Adjusted for potential confounders" means the investigators used statistical models to account for other variables that are related to both paternal alcohol use and birth length, estimating the association while holding those variables constant.

"Adjusted for potential confounders" means the investigators transformed the outcome variable (birth length) to a new scale to remove variability.

"Adjusted for potential confounders" means the investigators reported only results that were statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons.