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Karger Publishers, American Journal of Nephrology, 9(52), p. 745-752, 2021

DOI: 10.1159/000518652

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IL-6 Is Associated with Progression of Coronary Artery Calcification and Mortality in Incident Dialysis Patients

Journal article published in 2021 by Neil Roy, Sylvia E. Rosas ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Inflammation is important in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Elevated interleukin-6 (IL-6) is associated with cardiovascular events and also predicts mortality in individuals with CKD. Our goal was to determine the association between IL-6, FGF23, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) on coronary artery calcification (CAC) progression and mortality in incident dialysis patients without prior coronary events. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A prospective cohort of incident adult dialysis participants had CAC measured by ECG-triggered multislice CT scans at baseline and at least 12 months later. Lipids, mineral metabolism markers, FGF23, and inflammatory markers, such as IL-6 and hsCRP, were measured at the baseline visit. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Participants in the high IL-6 tertile had the highest baseline CAC score (133.25 [10.35–466.15]) compared to the low (0.25 [0–212.2]) and intermediate (29.55 [0–182.85]) tertiles. Almost half of the participants with high IL-6 (15 of 32 [46.9%]) experienced progression of CAC compared to participants with low (8 of 32 [25%]) and intermediate (9 of 32 [28.1%]) (<i>p</i> = 0.05) IL-6 levels. Each log increase in IL-6 was associated with increase in death (hazard ratio 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2–3.8; <i>p</i> = 0.01). After adjusting for smoking, age, gender, race, diabetes, phosphate, and baseline calcium score, IL-6 (log) was associated with 2.2 times (95% CI: 1.1–4.6; <i>p</i> = 0.03) increase in death. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> IL-6 is associated with progression of CAC and mortality in incident dialysis patients.