Ability of the HALP Score to Predict Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device-Related Complications

The hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score (HALP) is a recently defined score that indicates patients' inflammation and nutritional status. This score is associated with poor outcomes in cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to examine the relationship between the HALP score and complications related to cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) in patients undergoing CIED procedures.

Our study included 998 patients who underwent CIED implantation in our hospital between January 2019 and May 2022. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median HALP score. The low HALP score group consisted of patients with a HALP score < 40.63, and the high HALP score group consisted of patients with a HALP score ≥40.63. There were 499 patients in both groups. The endpoint of our study was cumulative events, including infection, pneumothorax, and hematoma secondary to CIED.

The mean age of the population was 63.9 ± 13.8 years, and 61.5% (615) of the population were male patients. In the multivariate logistic regression analyses, hypertension (OR = 4.216, p < 0.001), biventricular ICD implantation (OR = 16.894, p < 0.001), and HALP score (OR = 0.973, p < 0.001) were independent predictors of cumulative event. In the ROC curve analysis, the HALP score cut-off value of 40.03 was 60.8% sensitive and 52.4% specific for cumulative events (AUC = 59.5%, p = 0.007).

Our study observed that the HALP score was an independent predictor of cumulative complications related to CIED procedures. In light of this study, we think that the easily calculated HALP score may be useful in predicting complications in physicians performing CIED procedures.