Severe Acute Malnutrition in Childhood: Hormonal and Metabolic Status at Presentation, Response to Treatment, and Predictors of Mortality

Abstract

We have used metabolomic analysis to provide a comprehensive hormonal and metabolic profile of severely malnourished children at presentation and during nutritional rehabilitation. Our findings suggest that fatty acid metabolism plays a central role in the adaptation to acute malnutrition and that low levels of the adipose tissue hormone leptin associate with, and may predict, mortality prior to and during treatment.