{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T17:03:49Z","timestamp":1784567029727,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784505600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a potentially life-threatening form of heart failure that occurs toward the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery. Biomarkers that may support the recognition and characterization of PPCM remain limited. We investigated whether targeted serum organic-acid profiling could identify candidate metabolites associated with PPCM. In this case\u2013control study, serum samples from women with PPCM (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 40) were analyzed using a targeted organic-acid panel. Log2-transformed metabolite abundances were compared using Welch\u2019s t-test, with Benjamini\u2013Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction correction and Hedges\u2019 g effect sizes. Distributional assumptions were assessed using group-specific Shapiro\u2013Wilk tests, and Mann\u2013Whitney U tests were performed as a non-parametric sensitivity analysis. Homogentisic acid was increased in PPCM (log2fold change (log2FC) = 0.696; FDR q = 9.8 \u00d7 10\u22126), whereas lactic acid was decreased (log2FC = \u22120.701; FDR q = 0.00773). Both findings remained significant in the Mann\u2013Whitney U sensitivity analysis (BH-FDR q = 5.63 \u00d7 10\u22125 and q = 0.0114, respectively). The best-performing single metabolite showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) of 0.818 (95% CI, 0.723\u20130.899). The multivariable model achieved a cross-validated AUC of 0.708 (95% CI, 0.590\u20130.813), with a sensitivity of 0.800 and a specificity of 0.550. Targeted organic-acid profiling revealed a distinct metabolic signal in PPCM, highlighted by higher homogentisic acid and lower lactic acid levels. These exploratory findings warrant confirmation in larger prospective studies with external validation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27146451","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T16:19:27Z","timestamp":1784564367000},"page":"6451","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Targeted Serum Organic-Acid Profiling Identifies Candidate Metabolic Signatures in Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: A Case-Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Yasemin","family":"Behram Kandemir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul Ayd\u0131n University, 34295 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0349-2691","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ersin","family":"Do\u011fan\u00f6z\u00fc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, 07070 Antalya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u00dcnal","family":"G\u00fcntekin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, 07070 Antalya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veysel","family":"Tosun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Mehmet Akif Inan Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 63200 Sanliurfa, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"827","DOI":"10.1002\/ejhf.1493","article-title":"Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of peripartum cardiomyopathy: A position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on peripartum cardiomyopathy","volume":"21","author":"Bauersachs","year":"2019","journal-title":"Eur. 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