Metabolomics Reveals Glyoxylate and Dicarboxylate Metabolism Disorder in Elderly Trauma: A Retrospective Study

Elderly trauma (ET) carries a high mortality rate due to comorbidities, frailty, and limited physiological reserve. Understanding its specific pathophysiology is essential for enabling precision treatment.

To identify characteristic metabolic dysregulations and specific pathways in geriatric trauma.

We retrospectively analyzed existing metabolomics data from ET, young and middle-aged trauma (YMAT), elderly controls (EC), and young and middle-aged controls (YMAC).

An IVD integrating 8 significant metabolic pathways (SMPs) from ET vs EC and 10 SMPs from YMAT vs YMAC identified 3 pathways specific to ET: glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, galactose metabolism, and Pantothenate and coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis. The second IVD integrating these pathways with 3 SMPs from EC vs YMAC identified 2 metabolic pathways specific to ET independent of natural aging: glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, and pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis. Finally, the third IVD integrating them and 7 SMPs from ET vs YMAT identified glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism as unique signature of geriatric trauma.

This study was one of few metabolomics studies that distinguish between geriatric trauma-related metabolic changes and baseline aging factors, and revealed glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism disorder as a key pathway specific to geriatric trauma. Understanding it may inform the development of age-tailored strategies for improving trauma outcomes in the elderly.