Roy N, Rosas SE, et al. - Findings demonstrate an association of interleukin-6 (IL-6) with progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) as well as with mortality in incident dialysis patients.

• This prospective cohort study included incident dialysis patients without prior coronary events.

• The highest baseline CAC score (133.25 [10.35–466.15]) was detected in participants in the high IL-6 tertile vs the low (0.25 [0–212.2]) and intermediate (29.55 [0–182.85]) tertiles.

• CAC progression was evident in almost half of the participants with high IL-6 (15 of 32 [46.9%]) than those with low (8 of 32 [25%]) and intermediate (9 of 32 [28.1%]) IL-6 levels.

• Increase in death (hazard ratio 2.2) was seen in relation to each log increase in IL-6.

• A 2.2 times increase in death was observed in relation to IL-6 (log), post-adjustment for smoking, age, gender, race, diabetes, phosphate, and baseline calcium score.