Association between serum interleukin-6 levels and severity of perinatal asphyxia

Background: Perinatal asphyxia is a major cause of neurologic morbidity and mortality in infants. Objective: Determine the serum level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in neonates with perinatal asphyxia and its relation to the severity of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and short term neurological outcome. Methods: Serum IL-6 levels were measured at birth, and at 24 and 48 hour post-partum in 37 consecutive uninfected neonates with pen-natal asphyxia and 45 randomly selected healthy newborns. Results: Serum IL-6 concentrations in the infants who developed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy was 43 folds higher compared to values in the normal infants (p<0.001) and 1.9 folds higher as compared to infants with asphyxia who did not subsequently develop hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (p<0.001). Serum IL-6 concentrations were also related to the degree of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and neurological-developmental outcomes at the time of discharge. Conclusion: Serum levels of IL-6 increased in neonates with asphyxia, and this was most pronounced in neonates with adverse outcomes.