ArticleInfection2025
Trajectories and predictive significance of inflammatory parameters for clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients treated with tocilizumab.
Article in Infection, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinical characteristics of bloodstream infections in the patients receiving anti-IL-6 receptor antibody.Infection · 2026Article
- The Clinical Value of Inflammatory Indicators at the Time of Secondary Infection After Treatment With Tocilizumab: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Evaluating the efficacy of different doses of tocilizumab in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients: a single-center retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe IL-6 receptor inhibitor tocilizumab reduces mortality and morbidity in severe cases of COVID-19 through its effects on hyperinflammation and was approved as adjuvant therapy. Since tocilizumab changes the levels of inflammatory markers, we aimed to describe these changes in patients treated with tocilizumab, analyse their value in predicting death and bacterial superinfection and determine their influence on mortality rates.
methodsA retrospective analysis of 76 patients who were treated with tocilizumab for severe COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 was conducted. Inflammatory markers (IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin) were documented before and up to seven days after tocilizumab administration.
resultsThe overall mortality was 25% and 53.8% in patients who required invasive respiratory support. Deceased patients had higher baseline IL-6 (p = 0.026) and peak IL-6 levels after tocilizumab vs those who survived (p < 0.0001). A peak IL-6 value > 1000 pg/dl after tocilizumab administration was a good predictor of mortality (AUC = 0.812). Of the deceased patients 41.1% had a renewed CRP increase after an initial decrease following tocilizumab administration, compared to 7.1% of the surviving patients (p = 0.0011). Documented bacterial superinfections were observed in 35.5% (27/76) of patients, of whom 48.1% (13/27) died.
conclusionCRP-decline and IL-6 increase after tocilizumab treatment occurs regularly. An increase of IL-6 levels exceeding tenfold of baseline IL-6 levels, an absolute peak of 1000 pg/ml or a renewed increase of CRP are associated with higher mortality. Suppressed CRP synthesis can impede the diagnosis of bacterial superinfections, thus increasing the risk for complications.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.