ArticleJournal of arrhythmia2024
Increased interleukin-6 levels are associated with atrioventricular conduction delay in severe COVID-19 patients.
Article in Journal of arrhythmia, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review
- Exploring Anti-Inflammatory Treatment as Upstream Therapy in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Increased interleukin-6 levels are associated with atrioventricular conduction delay in severe COVID-19 patients.Journal of arrhythmia · 2024Article
- Editorial comments to "Increased interleukin-6 levels are associated with atrioventricular conduction delay in severe COVID-19 patients".Journal of arrhythmia · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Severely ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) show an increased risk of new-onset atrioventricular blocks (AVBs), associated with high rates of short-term mortality. Recent data suggest that the uncontrolled inflammatory activation observed in these patients, specifically interleukin (IL)-6 elevation, may play an important pathogenic role by directly affecting cardiac electrophysiology. The aim of our study was to assess the acute impact of IL-6 changes on electrocardiographic indices of atrioventricular conduction in severe COVID-19. Methods: We investigated (1) the behavior of PR-interval and PR-segment in patients with severe COVID-19 during active phase and recovery, and (2) their association with circulating IL-6 levels over time. Results: During active disease, COVID-19 patients showed a significant increase of PR-interval and PR-segment. Such atrioventricular delay was transient as these parameters rapidly normalized during recovery. PR-indices significantly correlated with circulating IL-6 levels over time. All these changes and correlations persisted also in the absence of laboratory signs of cardiac strain/injury or concomitant treatment with PR-prolonging drugs, repurposed or not. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that in patients with severe COVID-19 and high-grade systemic inflammation, IL-6 elevation is associated with a significant delay of atrioventricular conduction, independent of concomitant confounding factors. While transient, such alterations may enhance the risk of severe AVB and associated short-term mortality. Our data provide further support to current anti-inflammatory strategies for severe COVID-19, including IL-6 antagonists.
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