{
  "abstract": "Background There is an urgent need to identify targets for therapeutic trials in patients with Long Covid. We previously described a positive association between IL-6 levels at five months and ongoing severe health impairments at one year after hospital discharge for COVID-19. 1 We therefore aimed to describe if an association persisted between IL-6 levels one year after hospital discharge for COVID-19 with health outcomes at the same timepoint.Methods Adults recruited to the Post Hospitalisation Covid-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study attended a research visit one-year after discharge when the following patient reported outcomes were measured: health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the EuroQol questionnaire (EQ5D-5L), fatigue questionnaire (FACIT), short physical performance battery (SPPB), total number of symptoms and patient-reported recovery (Yes/No). In a sub-group of participants, Olink analysis was performed with IL-6 as one of the measured proteins. We conducted an analysis to investigate the relationship between IL-6 and health outcomes using a generalized linear model (GLM) in RStudio version 4.5.0, adjusting for age, sex, body-mass index, smoking, respiratory support during acute admission, index of multiple deprivation (IMD) and number of co-morbidities as covariates. Beta coefficient (β) quantifies the change in dependent variable (IL-6) for one-unit increase in the independent variable (health outcomes).Findings Data from 648 participants, who had Olink analysis performed at one year, was included: 394 (60%) men, mean (SD) age of 58.2 (12.0) years, 18.2% receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. IL-6 was associated with HRQoL (β = -0.66, p = 0.007), fatigue (β = 0.019, p < 0.001), physical performance (β = -0.126, p < 0.001) and number of symptoms (β = 0.017, p < 0.006) after adjustment for covariates.Conclusion We report an association between IL-6 levels and a range of health outcomes at one-year after hospital discharge from COVID-19. Higher IL-6 levels at one-year were associated with lower quality of life, lower physical performance, and higher symptom count. A randomised controlled trial of anti-IL-6 in Long COVID is needed to understand if there is a causal pathway.Reference LRM 2022;10(8):761–775.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Lung Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "MM Iqbal"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Lung Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "K Ntotsis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Lung Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "LV Wain"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Lung Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "CE Brightling"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Lung Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "RA Evans"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P191 Investigating the relationship between Interleukin-6 (IL6) and health outcomes one year after hospital discharge for COVID-19",
  "uid": "b867a5c3-c12e-5a7c-824d-dda50dde9302"
}