Interleukin-6 is better than C-reactive protein for the prediction of infected pancreatic necrosis and mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis

Introduction This study aimed to identify whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) is better than C-reactive protein (CRP) for the prediction of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN), and mortality. Methods Sixty-seven patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) who were hospitalized within 48 h of onset and received serum CRP and IL-6 tests from September 2018 to September 2019 were included. Spearman’s correlation was performed to assess their associations with severity. The areas under the curve (AUCs) for the prediction of SAP, organ failure, pancreatic necrosis, IPN, and mortality were estimated using receiver operating characteristic curves. Result Serum CRP and IL-6 levels were significantly positively correlated with the severity of AP (p < 0.05). The AUC for the prediction of SAP based on the CRP level was 0.78 (95% CI, 0.66–0.89) and that based on the IL-6 level was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.56–0.82). For the prediction of organ failure and pancreatic necrosis, CRP was more accurate than IL-6 (AUC 0.80 vs. 0.72 and 0.75 vs. 0.68, respectively). However, CRP was less accurate than IL-6 for predicting mortality and IPN (AUC 0.70 vs. 0.75 and 0.65 vs. 0.81, respectively). Systemic inflammatory response syndrome plus CRP was more accurate than systemic inflammatory response syndrome plus IL-6 (AUC 0.79 vs. 0.72) for the prediction of SAP. Conclusions IL-6 was more accurate than CRP for predicting mortality and IPN in patients with AP.