While the precise mechanism through which druggable genes related to mitochondria aid in delirium intervention remains to be fully elucidated, our mediation analysis found that 3-hydroxyoctanoate levels accounted for 19.2% of the causal relationship between SCP2 and delirium, demonstrating a mediating effect of 0.009 (p < 0.05). The gene discussed is SCP2; the disease is delirium.