TY - JOUR
T1 - Defining IL‐6 levels in healthy individuals: A meta‐analysis
T2 - A meta-analysis
AU - Said, Elias A.
AU - Al-Reesi, Iman
AU - Al-Shizawi, Nawal
AU - Jaju, Sanjay
AU - Al-Balushi, Mohammad
AU - Koh, Crystal Y.
AU - Al-Jabri, Ali A.
AU - Jeyaseelan, Lakshmanan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - BACKGROUND: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is produced by and impacts different cell types in human. IL-6 is associated with different diseases and viral infections, including COVID-19. To our knowledge, no normal values were reported for IL-6 in the blood of healthy individuals. We have reviewed and performed a meta-analysis on a total of 140 studies, including 12,421 values for IL-6 in the blood of healthy adult donors. Among these studies, 83 did not report a mean value and the standard deviation. Therefore, for the statistical analysis, we used the values reported in 57 studies, which included 3166 values for IL-6.RESULTS: The reported values for IL-6 in the blood of healthy donors varied between 0 and 43.5 pg/ml. The pooled estimate of IL-6 was 5.186 pg/ml (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.631, 5.740). As the age increased by 1 year, IL-6 values increased by 0.05 pg/ml (95% CI: 0.02, 0.09; p < .01). Though the heterogenicity, as determined by I
2 statistics, was high in our study, the differences in IL-6 values are still at the level of a few pg/ml, which might be related to the differences in the conditions that influence IL-6 production in the healthy population.
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first meta-analysis reporting the levels of IL-6 in the blood of healthy donors based on a large number of studies and donors. Therefore the 95% CI values determined in our study could well serve as a reference range for quick decision-making in clinical interventions, particularly those aiming to inhibit IL-6, especially urgent interventions, for example, COVID-19.
AB - BACKGROUND: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is produced by and impacts different cell types in human. IL-6 is associated with different diseases and viral infections, including COVID-19. To our knowledge, no normal values were reported for IL-6 in the blood of healthy individuals. We have reviewed and performed a meta-analysis on a total of 140 studies, including 12,421 values for IL-6 in the blood of healthy adult donors. Among these studies, 83 did not report a mean value and the standard deviation. Therefore, for the statistical analysis, we used the values reported in 57 studies, which included 3166 values for IL-6.RESULTS: The reported values for IL-6 in the blood of healthy donors varied between 0 and 43.5 pg/ml. The pooled estimate of IL-6 was 5.186 pg/ml (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.631, 5.740). As the age increased by 1 year, IL-6 values increased by 0.05 pg/ml (95% CI: 0.02, 0.09; p < .01). Though the heterogenicity, as determined by I
2 statistics, was high in our study, the differences in IL-6 values are still at the level of a few pg/ml, which might be related to the differences in the conditions that influence IL-6 production in the healthy population.
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first meta-analysis reporting the levels of IL-6 in the blood of healthy donors based on a large number of studies and donors. Therefore the 95% CI values determined in our study could well serve as a reference range for quick decision-making in clinical interventions, particularly those aiming to inhibit IL-6, especially urgent interventions, for example, COVID-19.
KW - IL-6
KW - blood
KW - healthy
KW - human
KW - levels
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096642569&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85096642569&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/820ad8f3-1ca6-3d7f-b201-3061e0d17ba0/
U2 - 10.1002/jmv.26654
DO - 10.1002/jmv.26654
M3 - Article
C2 - 33155686
AN - SCOPUS:85096642569
SN - 0146-6615
VL - 93
SP - 3915
EP - 3924
JO - Journal of Medical Virology
JF - Journal of Medical Virology
IS - 6
ER -
