Background
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both disorders have genetic predisposition. The study aims to compare the levels of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) in correlation with fecal calprotectin (FC) in IBD patients and healthy controls to assess its diagnostic and prognostic role in IBD.
Patients, methods, and results
This study enrolled 90 participants with mean age of 36.09 and 34.72 years for cases and controls, respectively. Both FC and IL-6 had significantly higher values in cases compared with controls (<0.001). Also, C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in the same group (13.9 vs. 3.02 mg/l; <0.001). On the other hand, cases had significantly lower hemoglobin levels compared with controls (9.22 vs. 13.5; <0.001). Also, in active IBD cases, FC and IL-6 had significantly higher values compared with inactive ones (<0.001).
Conclusion
Based on our findings, serum IL-6 compared with a valid IBD parameter, such as FC, was a sensitive and reliable marker in IBD diagnosis and prediction of disease activity with a significant correlation with FC.