IL-6 and IL-10 as predictors of disease severity in COVID-19 patients

Objectives:
SARS-CoV-2, an infectious agent behind the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, induces high levels of cytokines such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ etc. in infected individuals that play a role in the underlying patho-physiology. Nonetheless, exact association and contribution of every cytokine towards COVID-19 pathology remains poorly understood. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

Is there an association between induced cytokines and COVID-19 disease severity?

Study design:
This review article included 18 clinical studies, conducted in China with a total of 1,242 non-severe and 915 severe COVID-19 patients.

Results and conclusions:   
The investigators found meta-analysis for SMD value of each marker using a random-effects model showed moderate and statistically significant elevation in severe patients for 2 cytokines viz. IL-6 [SMD = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.26 to 0.80, p 0.001] and IL-10 [SMD = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.38 to 0.91, p 0.0001].

The investigators found model using both IL-6 and IL-10 as covariates showed an overall accuracy of 91.7% and area under the corresponding ROC curve as 0.957 [95% CI = 0.898  to 1], which is higher than the corresponding values using IL-6 [accuracy = 77.8%, AUC = 0.821] and IL-10 [accuracy = 80.6%, AUC = 0.878] individually as covariates.

The investigators found model using both IL-6 and IL-10 showed nearly 100% specificity and 83.3% sensitivity for classification in severe and non-severe categories.

The investigators concluded both IL-6 and IL-10 cytokine markers can be used as predictors for fast diagnosis of patients with higher risk of COVID-19 disease deterioration and thus can be managed well for a favourable prognosis.

Original title:
IL-6 and IL-10 as predictors of disease severity in COVID-19 patients: results from meta-analysis and regression by Dhar SK, Vishnupriyan K, [...], Das M.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/33553782/

Additional information of El Mondo:
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