Interleukin-6, but not pentraxin 3, predicts adverse clinical outcomes on short-term prognosis of patients with incipient heart failure

We investigated the clinical significance of plasma interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1, IL-1 decoy receptor and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Plasma levels of these inflammatory markers were measured by using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 118 patients. Subjects were ≥65 years, ≥10 pack-years, with a new diagnosis of CHF. The prevalence of COPD was 30% (36/118). Only 2/118 patients had previously diagnosed COPD. The percent of patients given β-blockers (80% vs 89%, P = 0.1), and the optimized to CHF target dose of β-blockers (46.3% vs 59.7%, P = 0.1) were no different in patients with or without COPD. Subjects were prospectively followed for 357 (336-364) days with the end point of death or all-cause hospitalization (adverse event). Baseline plasma levels of IL-6, IL-1, IL-1 decoy receptor and PTX3 were comparable between CHF patients with and without COPD. None of the inflammatory markers correlated with CHF severity. Death or hospitalization occurred in 70 (59.3%) patients. High IL-6 levels was a significant independent predictor for adverse event (WALD CHI-SQUARE P=0.0083), whereas IL-1, IL-1 decoy receptor and PTX3 were not. IL-6 levels correlated positively with high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels (r = 0.67, p < 0.0001), although hs-CRP was not associated with death or hospitalization. These results suggest that plasma levels of IL-6 might serve as a prognostic markers in short-term prognosis of elderly CHF patients either with or without COPD.