The negative association between C-reactive protein–albumin–lymphocyte index and cardiovascular disease

Background The role of the C-reactive protein–albumin–lymphocyte (CALLY) index in predicting cardiovascular disease prognosis, particularly in the broader population, remains inadequately studied. Methods Data from 22,848 adults, collected between 1999 and 2010, were analyzed in this study. The association between the CALLY index and cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality was examined using multivariate logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models. Restricted cubic spline, Kaplan–Meier survival curves, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves, and subgroup and interaction tests were employed. Results Following adjustment for all covariates, a 1-unit rise in the ln CALLY index was correlated with an 11% reduction in cardiovascular disease prevalence (odds ratio = 0.89, 95% confidence interval: 0.85, 0.93) and a 15% decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (hazard ratio = 0.85, 95% confidence interval: 0.81, 0.89). Compared with the lowest quartile, patients in the highest quartile of the ln CALLY index exhibited a 33% lower prevalence of cardiovascular disease (odds ratio = 0.67, 95% confidence interval: 0.57, 0.79) and a 39% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (hazard ratio = 0.61, 95% confidence interval: 0.50, 0.74). The time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the ln CALLY index predicted the 1-year cardiovascular disease mortality with an area under the curve of 0.819 (95% confidence interval: 0.753, 0.885). Conclusions The CALLY index was significantly inversely associated with cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality and provided reliable discriminatory capacity in predicting early mortality attributable to cardiovascular disease.