Shuqi Wang,1,2 Boying Jia,1,2 Sifan Niu,2,3 Shuchun Chen1,2 

1Department of Internal Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Internal Medicine, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Shuchun Chen, Department of Endocrinology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 31185988406, Email chenshuc2014@163.com

Purpose: To explore the correlation between hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte count, platelet count (HALP) score and type 2 diabetic retinopathy (DR).
Methods: The study was conducted on 674 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). According to the results of the fundus examination, they were divided into non-diabetic retinopathy group (NDR, n=388) and diabetic retinopathy group (DR, n=286). Collected patients baseline data, calculated HALP score, analyzed the correlation between HALP score and DR.
Results: In all patients, male patients and female patients, the HALP score of the DR group was lower than that of the NDR group (P< 0.001), and the HALP score was negatively correlated with the incidence of DR (P< 0.05). HALP score was independent risk factors for DR, regardless of gender. In male patients, HALP score and DR had a linear relationship, but in female patients, HALP score and DR showed a nonlinear relationship, and HALP score was more sensitive to the onset of DR in male patients. The combined diagnostic model of HALP score, course of disease, SBP and BUN was used to diagnose DR, and it was found that the diagnostic value was the highest among male patients, with AUC of 0.761, sensitivity of 58.3% and specificity of 80.3%.
Conclusion: HALP score was an independent risk factor for DR, attention should be paid to monitoring HALP score, especially in male T2DM patients. The accuracy of HALP score, disease course, SBP and BUN combined model diagnosis of DR was high, which can become a biological indicator for early screening of DR.

Keywords: HALP score, type 2 diabetes, diabetic retinopathy