Can the haemoglobin-albumin-lymphocyte-platelet (HALP) index be used as a prognostic marker in patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis?

Introduction The HALP score is an indicator of systemic inflammation and can be used as a prognostic marker. It has been previously associated with many cancers, but its relationship with prognosis in patients diagnosed with IPF is unknown. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the usability of the HALP score as a prognostic marker in patients diagnosed with IPF. Material and methods Our study included 224 IPF patients who were diagnosed and had follow-up visits in the chest-diseases clinic of our hospital between January 2021 and March 2023. The patients’ clinical information, comorbidities, laboratory values, PFT-DLCO parameters at the time of diagnosis, six-minute walk tests, body mass indices, prognosis information and death information were recorded. Results A total of 224 patients were included in the study group. The average age of the patients was 66.27 years, and the majority of patients were male. The median duration of survival was 892 days. The mean of the calculated HALP score was 53.27. Patients were divided into two groups with a HALP score cut-off of 25. When survival duration was compared between the two groups, it was statistically different. Conclusion To conclude, the HALP score is a reliable, simple, easily accessible and inexpensive index for predicting the prognosis of IPF. Although the HALP score has been studied primarily in patients with cancer or other inflammatory diseases, we hope that future researchers will investigate the combination of the HALP score with other scores to obtain more specific information about the prognosis of different diseases.