The Effect of CALLY Index and HALP Score on Mortality in Patients with COVID-19

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) has become a significant public health concern, with the potential to cause a considerable number of deaths. The objective of this study was to examine the potential of the C-reactive protein (CRP)-albumin-lymphocyte (CALLY) index and the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, platelet (HALP) score as mortality markers in patients with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.

This study was conducted on patients diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) between March 2020 and March 2022. The HALP score was calculated from the blood samples taken at the time of admission using the following formula: HALP Score = [hemoglobin (g/L) x albumin (g/L) x lymphocytes (/L)]/platelets. The CALLY index was calculated using the following formula: Albumin Lymphocyte/(CRP 104). The mortality status of the patients was recorded during the course of their hospitalization. The impact of the parameters on mortality was evaluated.

A total of 5,321 patients were included in the study. While mortality was observed in 306 of these patients, it was determined that 5.7% of them died. The median CALLY value for patients who did not experience in-hospital mortality was 0.85, while it was 0.30 for those who died. This value was significantly lower in the deceased patients (p < 0.001). A significant difference was observed in the HALP scores between survivors and non-survivors (2.00 vs. 1.42; p < 0.001). Area under the curve (AUC): A value of 0.676 was observed in the CALLY index at a cutoff value of 0.638 (p < 0.001). While the sensitivity was determined to be 70.3% for this cutoff value, the sensitivity was found to be 57.3%.

The results of our study demonstrate that the CALLY index and HALP score are readily applicable parameters that can be utilized as an indicator of mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).