Table 5. Prognostic significance of serum cytokines determined by univariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis.

Parameters*	HR**	95% CI	P value
IL-1β	0.596	0.232–1.532	0.283
IL-ra	1.000	0.993–1.007	0.983
IL-2	0.847	0.488–1.470	0.555
IL-4	0.465	0.146–1.479	0.195
IL-5	0.970	0.856–1.100	0.638
IL-6	0.892	0.665–1.198	0.447
IL-7	0.946	0.765–1.170	0.610
IL-8	0.988	0.964–1.013	0.356
IL-9	1.002	0.972–1.033	0.908
IL-10	0.763	0.404–1.440	0.404
IL-12	1.005	0.764–1.320	0.973
IL-13	1.039	0.868–1.234	0.678
IL-15	0.994	0.974–1.015	0.585
IL-17	0.917	0.736–1.144	0.443
Eotaxin/CCL11	0.987	0.957–1.018	0.398
b-FGF	0.974	0.861–1.103	0.682
G-CSF	0.991	0.977–1.005	0.226
GM-CSF	0.780	0.371–1.641	0.513
IFNγ	0.897	0.723–1.114	0.327
IP-10/CXCL10	0.999	0.997–1.001	0.368
MCP-1/CCL2	0.960	0.908–1.015	0.147
MIP-1α/CCL3	0.967	0.920–1.017	0.194
PDGF-BB	1.001	1.000–1.002	0.122
MIP-1β/CCL4	0.999	0.997–1.001	0.234
RANTES/CCL5	1.000	1.000–1.000	0.405
TNF-α	0.966	0.916–1.018	0.190
VEGF-A	0.991	0.961–1.023	0.585

*, cytokine levels were used as pg/mL; **, HR >1 means an increase in each continuous parameter indicating high risk of mortality. AE, acute exacerbation; b-FGF, basic fibroblast growth factor; CCL, CC chemokine ligand; CI, confidence interval; CXCL, CXC chemokine ligand; G-CSF; granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; HR, hazard ratio; HRCT, high-resolution computed tomography; IFN, interferon; IIP, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia; IL, interleukin; IP-10, IFN-γ inducible protein; MCP, monocyte chemotactic protein; MIP, macrophage inflammatory protein; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; RANTES, regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.