A single-center observational study on the expression of circulating interleukin-20 levels and predicting outcomes in human chronic heart failure: A 2-year follow-up cohort study: Higher IL-20 levels suggest poorer outcomes in CHF patients

Background: Interleukin-20 (IL-20) is closely related to cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. The relevance of IL-20 expression in human chronic heart failure (CHF) remains unknown. Thus, we investigated the level of circulating IL-20 in CHF patients and observed its correlation with CHF outcomes.

Methods: A cohort study was performed with CHF patients. Blood samples of 180 CHF patients and 167 control subjects were collected, and the plasma IL-20 level of each patient was determined. In addition, the endpoints of cardiovascular events among the CHF patients were evaluated prospectively. The maximum follow-up time of these CHF patients was 24 months, and the median follow-up time was 21 months.

Results: IL-20 levels were high in CHF patients and gradually increased in the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II, the NYHA III and the NYHA IV groups. According to the low, middle and high tertiles of IL-20 levels, the CHF patients were respectively divided into groups 1, groups 2, and groups 3. Multivariate Cox hazard analysis showed that the group 3 exhibited significantly higher cardiac event morbidity than the other two groups after adjustment for confounding factors. The CHF patients were also divided into two groups according to plasma IL-20 levels, and higher rates of cardiovascular events were observed in the group with higher IL-20 levels.

Conclusions: Circulating IL-20 levels are significantly elevated in CHF patients, and higher IL-20 levels suggest poorer outcomes in CHF patients.