Abstract
|
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a Predictor of Clinical Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19
by Saad B. Z. Mahmood, Hafsa Majid, Ainan Arshad, Zaib-Un-Nisa, Noureen Niazali, Kulsum Kazi, Aashir Aslam, Sibtain Ahmed, Bushra Jamil, Lena Jafri
|
|
|
Background: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been known to be involved in immune regulation, inflammatory response, and metabolism. It is also recognized as the major cause to underscore the pathology of severe COVID-19 patients. However, it remains to be seen if IL-6 is superior to other inflammatory biomarkers in ascertaining clinical severity and mortality rate for COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the value of IL-6 as a predictor of severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients and compare it with other pro-inflammatory biomarkers in the South Asian region.
Methods: An observational study was conducted, including all adult SARS-CoV-2 patients who had undergone IL-6 testing from December 2020 to June 2021. The patients' medical records were reviewed to collect demographic, clinical, and biochemical data. Other pro-inflammatory biomarkers apart from IL-6 included Neutrophils to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and procal-citonin for analysis. SPSS version 22.0 was utilized.
Results: Out of the 393 patients who underwent IL-6 testing, 203 were included in the final analysis with a mean (SD) age of 61.9 years (12.9) and 70.9% (n = 144) were male. Fifty-six percent (n = 115) subjects had critical disease. IL-6 levels were elevated (> 7 pg/mL) in 160 (78.8%) patients. Levels of IL-6 significantly correlated with age, NLR, D-dimer, CRP, ferritin, LDH, length of stay, clinical severity, and mortality. All the inflammatory markers were significantly increased in critically ill and expired patients (p < 0.05). The receiver operator curve showed that IL-6 had the best area under the curve (0.898) compared to other pro-inflammatory biomarkers for mortality with comparable results for clinical severity.
Conclusions: Study findings show that though IL‐6 is an effective marker of inflammation and can be helpful for clinicians in recognizing patients with severe COVID‐19. However, we still need further studies with larger sample size.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2022.220741
|
