Assessment of the Clinical Utility of Interleukin-6 in Congestive Heart Failure

Abstract

Objective: To determine the clinical utility of Interleukin-6 in Congestive heart failure by comparing its association with N terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP). Study Design: Diagnostic Accuracy Study. Place and Duration: Department of Chemical Pathology, Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Lahore, from 1st September 2022 to 30th November 2022. Methodology: Patients reporting to the CMH Lahore Emergency Department with symptoms suggestive of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) < 40% were included in the study after a detailed physical examination. Sample collection was done for analysis of N terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide and interleukin-6. Standard echocardiography results were obtained from the patients. Their past medical history, the results of the clinical examination, and any additional findings were considered together when evaluating the data for diagnostic reasons. Results: The levels of N terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide displayed a very weak positive correlation with interleukin-6 (r value=0.016; p value=0.859). Therefore, N terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide and interleukin-6 were found to have a statistically insignificant association. Interleukin-6 was found to have sensitivity, specificity, and Area under Curve (AUC) (11.11%, 91.18%, and 0.482) respectively at a cut-off level of 65.6pg/ml, for the diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Conclusion: Interleukin-6 has a causative role in the progression and monitoring of congestive heart failure, however; we were unable to show its usefulness as a diagnostic marker of congestive heart failure. The positive correlation of interleukin-6 with N terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide suggests that interleukin-6 can still be a target for therapeutics. Keywords: Interleukin-6, Diagnostic Accuracy, NT Pro-BNP (Gold Standard), Congestive Heart Failure, Biochemical Markers, Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction. How to Cite This: Saeed M, Rana MZ, Khan N, Anwar H, Awais H, Ahmed S. Assessment of the Clinical Utility of Interleukin-6 in Congestive Heart Failure. Isra Med J. 2023; 15(1): 7-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55282/imj.oa1380 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.