Role of interleukin 6 as a predictive factor for a severe course of Covid-19: retrospective data analysis of patients from a long-term care facility during Covid-19 outbreak.

The concentration of IL-6 > 24 pg/mL at initial assessment predicted the development of hypoxemia requiring hospitalization with excellent sensitivity and good specificity. IL-6 appears as a potential predictor for the development of the severe Covid-19 and might serve for early identification of patients in need of hospitalization. Further studies are needed to evaluate the robustness of the use of IL-6 as an effective screening tool for the severe course of Covid-19.