Population-based case-control study revealed metabolomic biomarkers of suboptimal health status in Chinese population—potential utility for innovative approach by predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine

Background Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a subclinical stage of chronic diseases, and the identification of SHS provides an opportunity for the predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM) of chronic diseases. Previous studies have reported the associations between metabolic signatures and early signs of chronic diseases. Methods This study aimed to detect the metabolic biomarkers for the identification of SHS in a case-control study. SHS questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) was used in a population-based health survey to measure the SHS levels of participants. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics analysis was conducted on plasma samples collected from 50 SHS participants and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Results After adjusting for the confounders, 24 significantly differential metabolites, such as sphingomyelin, sphingosine, sphinganine, progesterone, pregnanolone, and bilirubin, were identified as the candidate biomarkers for SHS. Pathway analysis revealed that sphingolipid metabolism, taurine metabolism, and steroid hormone biosynthesis are the disturbed metabolic pathways related to SHS. A combination of four metabolic biomarkers (sphingosine, pregnanolone, taurolithocholate sulfate, cervonyl carnitine) can distinguish SHS individuals from the controls with a sensitivity of 94.0%, a specificity of 90.0%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.977. Conclusion Plasma metabolites are valuable biomarkers for SHS identification, and meanwhile, SHSQ-25 can be used as an alternative health screening tool in the population-based health survey. SHS-related metabolic disturbances could be detected at the early onset of SHS, and SHS-related metabolites could create a window opportunity for PPPM of chronic diseases.