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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.

Sec. General Cardiovascular Medicine

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1626470

Systemic Inflammatory Indices and Mortality Risk in Heart Failure: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Provisionally accepted
  • Dr. Siyami Ersek Chest Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Heart failure (HF) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Inflammation, malnutrition, and immune dysregulation contribute to adverse outcomes. The CALLY score—a composite index of C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin, and lymphocyte count—has emerged as an integrative biomarker of systemic inflammation, nutritional status, and immune function. This study evaluated the prognostic significance of the CALLY score in predicting in-hospital mortality among patients hospitalized with HF. Methods: This retrospective observational study included 220 adult patients admitted with HF between January 2022 and December 2024. Patients were stratified into tertiles based on their admission CALLY score. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Cox proportional hazards modeling and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression were applied to identify predictors of mortality and assess non-linear associations. Kaplan–Meier analysis evaluated survival differences by hospital stay duration. Results: Among 220 patients, 26 (11.8%) died in-hospital. Non-survivors had lower CALLY scores (1.27 ± 0.72 vs 1.71 ± 0.60; p < 0.001). In multivariable Cox regression, age (HR 1.105; 95% CI 1.031–1.202; p = 0.004) and the CALLY score (HR 0.495; 95% CI 0.281–1.010; p = 0.047) were associated with mortality. RCS showed an inverse, non-linear association between CALLY and mortality risk. Conclusion: The CALLY score shows a borderline independent association with in-hospital mortality and may aid early risk stratification. Prospective validation is warranted.

Keywords: Heart Failure, CALLY score, Inflammation, prognosis, In-hospital mortality

Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 ARIN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: CAN BABA ARIN, canbabaarin@gmail.com

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