title: Serum interleukin-6 in the diagnosis of bacterial infection in cirrhotic patients: A meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The diagnostic accuracy of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in predicting bacterial infection in cirrhotic patients remains unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore the potential diagnostic value of IL-6 in cirrhotic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched PubMed, Embase (via OvidSP), Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and Scopus for studies published from inception to October 2015. Studies were enrolled if they included assessment of the accuracy of IL-6 in the diagnosis of bacterial infection in cirrhotic patients and provided sufficient data to construct a 2 × 2 contingency table.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Totally, 535 studies were searched in the initial database and finally 6 studies involving 741 patients were included for the final analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64-0.94), 0.91 (95% CI, 0.80-0.96) and 52.89 (95% CI, 15.21-183.86), respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio was 8.99 (95% CI, 4.13-19.55) and the pooled negative likelihood ratio was 0.17 (95% CI, 0.07-0.43). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.92-0.96).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis suggests IL-6 has a high diagnostic value for the differentiation of bacterial infection in patients with cirrhosis.
authors.affiliation: Liver Research Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Yinlian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mingfang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yueyong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C508600:IL6 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6