Higher admission IL-6 levels are associated with higher platelet levels at discharge in sepsis patients

Q: How were sepsis patients selected for this study?

Patients were diagnosed with sepsis using Sepsis 3.0 criteria and were screened and enrolled from the emergency department between February 2021 and June 2022.

Q: What marker was analyzed to relate inflammation to platelet outcomes?

The study focused on IL-6 measured at admission, with cytokine profiling performed using a Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine 17-plex panel.

Q: How did the study define high versus low platelet levels at discharge?

Patients were stratified by a discharge platelet threshold of 150×10^9/L into high-platelet and low-platelet groups.

Q: What was the main finding regarding IL-6 and discharge platelet levels?

Higher admission IL-6 levels were associated with higher platelet levels at discharge, supported by significant group differences and favorable ROC sensitivity and specificity.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by mieayamfan

Prospective observational cohort analysis evaluated whether admission inflammatory mediator IL-6 relates to platelet recovery at discharge in sepsis patients. Patients diagnosed with sepsis by Sepsis 3.0 criteria were screened from the emergency department between February 2021 and June 2022, with cytokines measured using a 17-plex human cytokine panel. Participants were stratified by discharge platelet threshold of 150×10^9/L. IL-6 levels differed significantly between high- and low-platelet groups after adjustment, and ROC results indicated high sensitivity and specificity for predicting higher discharge platelet levels.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Sepsis and platelet abnormalities

Methods

Patient cohort and cytokine measurement

Stratification and statistical analysis

Results

IL-6 differences between groups

Predictive performance

Conclusion

Association between admission IL-6 and discharge platelets

Cohort Study Higher admission IL-6 levels are associated with higher platelet levels at discharge in sepsis patients Mubing Qina , Xin Lu, MDa , Joseph Harold Walline, MDb , Zengrui Songa , Huadong Zhu, MDa , Yanxia Gao, MDc , Yi Li, MDa ,* Background Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction syndrome, with an overall mortality rate of 32 .8% . Platelets have been shown to have a central role in the pathogenesis of a diverse array of immune-mediated and infectious diseases, and both thrombocytopenia and platelet hyperreactivity independently correlate with elevated sepsis-related morbidity and mortality. Methods From February 2021 to June 2022, patients diagnosed with sepsis (according to the Sepsis 3.0 criteria) from the emergency department were screened and enrolled in a prospective observational cytokine analysis cohort.“Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine Grp I Panel 17-plex” was used for cytokines analysis. Patients were stratified into high-and low-platelet groups using a discharge platelet threshold of 150 × 109/L. Data were analyzed with R 4.4.0 and GraphPad Prism 9, calculating medians and frequencies for variables. Results Fifty-seven patients were enrolled and were classified into high-and low-platelet groups (31 vs 26) . IL-6 had a significant difference between the two groups after adjusting for admission platelet level and length of stay in hospital (2072 vs 107. 1, q < 0.05) . Receiver operating characteristic curve also showed IL-6 had high degrees of sensitivity and specificity for predicting higher platelet levels. Conclusion Higher IL-6 levels at admission for sepsis were associated with higher platelet levels at discharge. Keywords: IL-6, platelet, sepsis Background Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction syndrome that results from a dysregulated systemic inflammatory response to infection[1–3]. The incidence of sepsis is approximately 5% of all hospital admissions, with an overall hospital mortality rate of aEmergency Department, The State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China, bDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA and cEmergency Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article. *Corresponding authors. Address: Emergency Department, The State Key Laboratory for Complex, Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy ofMedical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China 100730. Tel.: (86)[013693109826. E-mail: billliyi@126.com](013693109826. E-mail: billliyi@126.com) (Y. Li); [gaoyanxiazzu@163.com](gaoyanxiazzu@163.com) (Y. Gao). Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License 4.0 (CCBY-NC), where it is permissible to download, share, remix, transform, and buildup the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be used commercially without permission from the journal. Annals of Medicine & Surgery (2026) 88:131–137 Received 3 September 2025; Accepted 18 November 2025 Supplemental Digital Content is available for this article. Direct URL citations are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s website, [www.lww.com/annals-of-medicine-and-surgery](www.lww.com/annals-of-medicine-and-surgery). Published online 4 December 2025 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000004485](http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000004485) HIGHLIGHTS ● IL-6 predicts thrombopoietic recovery in sepsis survivors with high accuracy [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.858]

FAQs

How were sepsis patients selected for this study?

Patients were diagnosed with sepsis using Sepsis 3.0 criteria and were screened and enrolled from the emergency department between February 2021 and June 2022.

What marker was analyzed to relate inflammation to platelet outcomes?

The study focused on IL-6 measured at admission, with cytokine profiling performed using a Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine 17-plex panel.

How did the study define high versus low platelet levels at discharge?

Patients were stratified by a discharge platelet threshold of 150×10^9/L into high-platelet and low-platelet groups.

What was the main finding regarding IL-6 and discharge platelet levels?

Higher admission IL-6 levels were associated with higher platelet levels at discharge, supported by significant group differences and favorable ROC sensitivity and specificity.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by mieayamfan