A recently published study described the association of a wide series of biomarkers with admission to intensive care and death in a hospital, arranging IL-6 owing to its role in the systemic inflammatory response associated with a worse prognosis of the disease.

It consumed the data (including IL-6 results, other biochemical and haematological parameters) of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. It was found that the Age, LDH, IL-6 and lymphocyte count, to be self-determining predictors of death, and could be used to establish more aggressive therapies in COVID-19 patients. They also mentioned lymphocyte count to be a strong independent risk factor of poor prognosis and may be used as a clinical predictor of severity and prognosis.

Source:  Donoso-Navarro E, Arribas Gómez I, Bernabeu-Andreu FA. IL-6 and Other Biomarkers associated with Poor Prognosis in a Cohort of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Madrid. Biomarker Insights. January 2021. doi:10.1177/11772719211013363