Trends in Clinical and Medical Sciences

Interleukin-6 evaluation as a biomarker for disease severity and mortality in covid 19 patients

Dr. Ravija Prasad\(^{1}\), Dr. Mohit Awasthi\(^{2}\), Dr. Sunil Kag\(^{3}\) and Dr. Sanidhya Sethia\(^{4,*}\)
\(^{1}\) Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
\(^{2}\) Junior Resident 3rd year (PG), Department of Medicine, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
\(^{3}\) Junior Resident 2nd year (PG), Department of Medicine, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
\(^{4}\)Junior Resident 1st year (PG), Department of Medicine, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Sanidhya Sethia at dr.sethia169@yahoo.com

Abstract

Background: In pandemic situations, it is essential that the limited resources are used judiciously to achieve most benefits. Prediction of the disease severity at the earliest will help in better allocation, thus, positively affecting prognosis and treatment.
Aim and objective: To investigate patient characteristics and specific biomarker IL 6 as possible early predictors of disease severity of SARS-COV-2 infection.
Material and Methods: Retrospective single-centric record based observational study conducted at intensive care unit of tertiary care hospital in Central , India. 124 consecutive RT-PCR positive coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) adult patients. Demographics, and Inflammatory markers were compared with respect to severity of disease.
Results: The study involved 124 individuals who were affected, out of which 32 patients were categorised as having severe disease, while the remaining 92 patients were categorised as having non-severe disease. Male gender was the predominant demographic in both the severe group. all the symptomps are observed more in frequency among severe group. Immune-inflammatory Markers such as IL-6 The mean value of interleukin-6 in NS-Group patients was 17.6792 27.08 pg/ml, while in S-Group patients it was 97.6515 96.032 pg/ml.
Conclusion: Our study found that high peripheral blood IL-6 levels independently predict COVID-19 severity.IL-6 affected COVID-19 severity and may have been useful for monitoring severe cases. It emphasizes the cytokine storm in COVID-19 progression and suggests IL-6 blockade for severe patients.

Keywords:

COVID-19 ARDS; Indian Intensive care unit; Inflammatory biomarker; IL6; Severity.