Elevated interleukin‐6 and severe COVID‐19: A meta‐analysis

Aziz, Muhammad; Fatima, Rawish; Assaly, Ragheb

Interleukin-6 is an important marker of inflammation. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to demonstrate the association of elevated IL-6 with severe Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). A total of 9 studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Patients with severe COVID-19 had a significantly higher serum IL-6 levels compared to non-severe patients (mean difference (MD): 38.6 pg/mL, 95% CI: 24.3 - 52.9 pg/mL, p <0.001, I2 = 98.5%). On meta-regression, increasing mean IL-6 level was associated with increased mortality in patients (Coefficient (Q): 0.01, 95% CI: 0.01-0.03, p = 0.03). Given the association of elevated IL-6 with severe COVID-19 and mortality, clinicians should use this as a potential marker to recognize severe disease. IL-6 should be incorporated in a scoring system along with other inflammatory markers to risk stratify the patients for early recognition of severe disease. Our study should encourage researchers to conduct trial evaluating Anti IL-6 antibodies such as Tocilizumab to assess the efficacy in patients with severe COVID-19. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.