In these times of precision and personalized medicine, profiling patients to identify their needs is crucial to providing the best and most cost-effective treatment. In this study, we used urine metabolomics to explore the characterization of older adults with hip fractures and to explore the forecasting of patient outcomes. Overnight urine specimens were collected from 33 patients (mean age 80 ± 8 years) after hip fracture surgery during their stay at a rehabilitation hospital. The specimens were analyzed with 1H NMR spectroscopy. We performed a metabolomics study regarding assessments of frailty status, Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). The main metabolic variations concerned 10 identified metabolites: paracetamol derivatives (4 peaks: 2.15 ppm; 2.16 ppm; 7.13 ppm and 7.15 ppm); hippuric acid; acetate; acetone; dimethylamine; glycine; alanine; lactate; valine; TMAO. At baseline, the urinary levels of these metabolites were significantly higher (i) in frail compared with non-frail patients, (ii) in persons with poorer FIM scores, and (iii) in persons with poorer compared SPPB scores. Our findings suggested that patients with increased levels of urine metabolites associated with metabolic, inflammatory, and renal disorders presented clear signs of frailty, impaired functional independence, and poor physical performance. Metabolomics could be a valuable tool to further characterize older adults, especially after major medical events.
Keywords: frailty; functioning; hip fracture; metabolomics; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.