Front Medicine reports SII link

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine published a study on April 24, 2026, linking a higher systemic immune-inflammation index, or SII, with higher all-cause mortality in heart-failure patients, and the journal’s Front Medicine account highlighted the paper on X on June 4. The study analyzed 1,084 patients hospitalized for heart failure and tracked outcomes through July 22, 2025, according to the article. The authors said elevated SII was independently associated with a higher risk of death from any cause, while the link with cardiovascular mortality did not reach statistical significance in their dataset. A correction published on May 27 said two authors had been omitted as equal contributors in the original version. ### What exactly did the study measure? The paper defines SII as an inflammation-related index built from routine blood counts, combining platelets, neutrophils and lymphocytes into a single measure, according to the Frontiers article. The authors examined whether log-transformed SII values were associated with later death in patients with heart failure. (frontiersin.org) The study team — led by Junlan Zhang, Nan Lyu, Yaping Zhang, Pan Chen and colleagues, with Jin Zhang as corresponding author — said the aim was to test whether SII could serve as a prognostic biomarker in heart failure. The institutions listed were Lanzhou University First Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University School of Public Health and Anhui Medical University Affiliated Fuyang People’s Hospital. (frontiersin.org) ### Who was included in the heart-failure cohort? The cohort included 1,084 patients hospitalized for heart failure between January 2022 and June 2023, the paper said. Follow-up was conducted by telephone and outpatient visits until death or July 22, 2025, with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality set as the primary endpoints. (frontiersin.org) The analysis used Cox proportional hazards models to test associations between log-transformed SII and mortality, and restricted cubic splines to assess possible nonlinearity, according to the article. The authors also ran subgroup, mediation and sensitivity analyses. ### What did the authors find? The main reported result was a statistically significant association between higher log-transformed SII and higher all-cause mortality, with a fully adjusted hazard ratio of 1.59 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.03 to 2.46, the paper said. (frontiersin.org) The authors concluded that elevated SII was independently associated with increased all-cause mortality in heart-failure patients. Cardiovascular mortality did not show a statistically significant association in the fully adjusted analysis, according to the article. The authors said that may reflect the limited number of cardiovascular deaths in the cohort, which the paper listed as 60. ### Did the paper identify any subgroup patterns? The subgroup analysis found a significant interaction with smoking status, the paper said. (frontiersin.org) Among smokers, the association between higher log-transformed SII and all-cause mortality was stronger, with a hazard ratio of 2.41 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.57 to 3.68. The mediation analysis reported that NT-proBNP mediated 35.8% of the association and left ventricular ejection fraction, or LVEF, mediated 15.0%, according to the Frontiers article. (frontiersin.org) Those measures are commonly used in heart-failure assessment, but the paper presented them here specifically as mediators in its statistical model. ### Was this a preprint or a journal article? Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine lists the study as an original research article, not an unpublished manuscript, with a DOI of 10.3389/fcvm.2026.1823641. The article page shows it was received on March 5, revised on April 2, accepted on April 3 and published on April 24, 2026. (frontiersin.org) A separate correction published on May 27, 2026, said Nan Lyu and Yaping Zhang had been erroneously omitted as equal contributing authors and that the original article had been updated. The study and correction remain available through Frontiers, with Jin Zhang listed as the corresponding author. (frontiersin.org 1) (frontiersin.org 2)