Serum metabolomic signatures and hepcidin levels in early childhood iron deficiency anemia: a case–control study

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remains a significant global health issue among children aged 24–59 months. It can lead to systemic metabolic changes that hinder neurodevelopment and growth. This study examined serum metabolomic profiles and hepcidin levels in young children with IDA to identify the metabolic pathways affected by iron deficiency. This observational case–control study was conducted at the pediatric clinic of University Teaching Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, from July to September 2024. We initially recruited and screened 100 children aged 24–59 months (50 with IDA and 50 healthy controls). After applying predefined clinical and laboratory exclusion criteria, all 50 eligible IDA cases and 38 controls were included in the final analysis. Hemoglobin and ferritin levels were measured as markers of iron status. Serum hepcidin was quantified using ELISA. Untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed with gas chromatography − mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (v26.0), R (v4.4.3), and MetaboAnalyst (v6.0). Children with IDA had significantly lower body weight, hemoglobin, and ferritin levels than controls (p < 0.001). Serum hepcidin levels were lower in IDA but did not differ significantly between groups (p = 0.10). Metabolomic analysis identified twelve metabolites that were significantly downregulated in IDA (p < 0.05). Pathway analysis revealed that cholesterol is a key metabolite linked to bile acid and steroid biosynthesis. Ferritin demonstrated strong positive correlations with cholesterol and 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid (r = 0.70). Conclusions: Children with IDA showed alterations in lipid-related metabolites, with cholesterol emerging as a key associated metabolite. However, pathway-level interpretations based primarily on a single sterol signal should be interpreted cautiously. Hepcidin levels were not significantly different, indicating complex regulatory influences in early childhood. (Table presented.)