Combined Plasma DHA-Containing Phosphatidylcholine PCaa C38:6 and Tetradecanoyl-Carnitine as an Early Biomarker for Assessing the Mortality Risk among Sarcopenic Patients

  • Nutrients. 2024 Feb 23;16(5):611. doi: 10.3390/nu16050611.
Hung-Yao Ho  1  2  3  4 ,  Yuan-Ho Chen  3 ,  Chi-Jen Lo  1  2 ,  Hsiang-Yu Tang  1 ,  Su-Wei Chang  5  6 ,  Chun-Ming Fan  1 ,  Yu-Hsuan Ho  7 ,  Gigin Lin  2  8  9 ,  Chih-Yung Chiu  2  10  11 ,  Chih-Ming Lin  12  13  14 ,  Mei-Ling Cheng  1  2  3  7
Affiliations
  • 1. Metabolomics Core Laboratory, Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 2. Clinical Metabolomics Core Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 3. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 4. Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 5. Department of Artificial Intelligence, College of Intelligent Computing, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 6. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 7. Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 8. Department of Medical Imaging and Intervention, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 9. Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 10. Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 11. Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 12. Division of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Taipei, Taipei 105, Taiwan.
  • 13. Department of Health Management, Chang Gung Health and Culture Village, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
  • 14. College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
PMID: 38474739 DOI: 10.3390/nu16050611
Abstract

The coming of the hyper-aged society in Taiwan prompts us to investigate the relationship between the metabolic status of sarcopenic patients and their most adverse outcome-death. We studied the association between any plasma metabolites and the risk for mortality among older Taiwanese sarcopenic patients. We applied a targeted metabolomic approach to study the plasma metabolites of adults aged ≥65 years, and identified the metabolic signature predictive of the mortality of sarcopenic patients who died within a 5.5-year follow-up period. Thirty-five sarcopenic patients who died within the follow-up period (Dead cohort) had shown a specific plasma metabolic signature, as compared with 54 patients who were alive (Alive cohort). Only 10 of 116 non-sarcopenic individuals died during the same period. After multivariable adjustment, we found that sex, hypertension, tetradecanoyl-carnitine (C14-carnitine), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-containing phosphatidylcholine diacyl (PCaa) C38:6 and C40:6 were important risk factors for the mortality of sarcopenic patients. Low PCaa C38:6 levels and high C14-carnitine levels correlated with an increased mortality risk; this was even the same for those patients with hypertension (HTN). Our findings suggest that plasma PCaa C38:6 and acylcarnitine C14-carnitine, when combined, can be a better early biomarker for evaluating the mortality risk of sarcopenia patients.

Keywords
DHA; hypertension; metabolomics; mortality; phosphatidylcholine; sarcopenia.
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