Shimazui T, et al. - In patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) who sought intensive care unit admission between January 2011 and December 2015, researchers assessed associations between interleukin (IL)-6 on intensive care unit admission and in-hospital 90-day mortality and short-term/long-term renal function. Based on admission IL-6 tertiles, three groups of 646 patients were defined: low (1.5–150.2 pg/mL), middle (152.0–1168 pg/mL), and high (1189-2,346,310 pg/mL) IL-6 on intensive care unit admission groups. They noted higher in-hospital 90-day mortality (low vs middle vs high, P = 0.0050), lower urine output (low vs middle vs high, P < 0.0001), and an increased probability of persistent of anuria for ≥ 12 hours (low vs middle vs high, P < 0.0001) within 72 hours after intensive care unit admission among patients in the high IL-6 group. Overall, short-term renal function and mortality in AKI patients could be predicted by serum levels of IL-6 on intensive care unit admission. These levels were also related to renal recovery in survivors.