{
  "abstract": "Background: The hemoglobin–albumin–lymphocyte–platelet (HALP) score integrates nutritional, inflammatory, and hematologic status and has been proposed as a prognostic marker in acute heart failure (AHF), but external validation is limited.\n\nMethods: We retrospectively analyzed 197 consecutive patients hospitalized with AHF at a tertiary center. HALP was calculated at admission, and the pre-specified outcomes were in-hospital mortality, prolonged hospital stay (>7 days), all-cause mortality over follow-up, and heart-failure rehospitalization. Discrimination was assessed by the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) with DeLong 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and associations were tested with crude and age/sex-adjusted logistic regression (in-hospital outcomes) and Cox regression (mortality over follow-up), using both data-derived (Youden) and pre-specified HALP thresholds.\n\nResults: The cohort had a median age of 71 years (30.5% female) and a median follow-up of 15.5 months; in-hospital mortality was 12.7%, prolonged stay 19.4%, and all-cause mortality 31.0%. HALP did not discriminate any outcome (AUC 0.53 [95% CI 0.41–0.65] for in-hospital mortality, 0.47 [0.36–0.59] for prolonged stay, and 0.57 [0.48–0.66] for all-cause mortality; all CIs included 0.50). A Youden-optimized threshold appeared associated with mortality in logistic regression (adjusted odds ratio 2.02, 95% CI 1.02–4.00), but the signal vanished under pre-specified thresholds (median-split adjusted odds ratio 1.23, 0.67–2.28) and in time-to-event analysis (adjusted hazard ratio per 1-SD decrease 1.04, 0.78-1.38; Youden threshold 1.75, 0.97-3.16; log-rank across quartiles p = 0.15). In the same patients, the established EHMRG and MAGGIC scores discriminated mortality (AUC 0.71 and 0.65; CIs excluding 0.50), whereas HALP correlated only with severity markers (NYHA class rho = −0.31; NT-proBNP rho = −0.16; CRP rho = −0.17).\n\nConclusion: In this independent cohort, HALP reflected disease severity but did not predict outcomes once cutoff-optimization bias was removed, and should not be used as a stand-alone risk-stratification tool in AHF.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Cardiology, Kayseri City Training and Research Hospital"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mehmet Zafer Aydın"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mustafa Gök"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mehmet Kamil Teber"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zülfiye Kuzu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ziya Şimşek"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5ya7mfzzx3bef.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fcvm.2026.1958343",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "5ya7mfzzx3bef",
  "issns": [
    "2297-055X"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2026.1958343/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5ya7mfzzx3bef.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:10Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fcvm.2026.1958343",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2026.1958343/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2297-055X",
      "subfield": "cardiovascular"
    }
  ],
  "title": "External validation of the HALP score for predicting in-hospital and long-term outcomes in acute heart failure: a retrospective cohort study",
  "title_text": "External validation of the HALP score for predicting in-hospital and long-term outcomes in acute heart failure: a retrospective cohort study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T00:21:04Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5ya7mfzzx3bef",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine",
  "versions": []
}