Cardiometabolic disease risk markers are increased following burn injury in children

IntroductionBurn injury in children causes prolonged systemic effects on physiology and metabolism leading to increased morbidity and mortality, yet much remains undefined regarding the metabolic trajectory towards specific health outcomes.MethodsA multi-platform strategy was implemented to evaluate the long-term immuno-metabolic consequences of burn injury combining metabolite, lipoprotein, and cytokine panels. Plasma samples from 36 children aged 4–8 years were collected 3 years after a burn injury together with 21 samples from non-injured age and sex matched controls. Three different 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopic experiments were applied to capture information on plasma low molecular weight metabolites, lipoproteins, and α-1-acid glycoprotein.ResultsBurn injury was characterized by underlying signatures of hyperglycaemia, hypermetabolism and inflammation, suggesting disruption of multiple pathways relating to glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, amino acid metabolism and the urea cycle. In addition, very low-density lipoprotein sub-components were significantly reduced in participants with burn injury whereas small-dense low density lipoprotein particles were significantly elevated in the burn injured patient plasma compared to uninjured controls, potentially indicative of modified cardiometabolic risk after a burn. Weighted-node Metabolite Correlation Network Analysis was restricted to the significantly differential features (q