IL6 and coronary artery disorder: In contrast, Blankenberg et al. found CMV to be associated with cardiac mortality among persons with existing coronary artery disease (CAD) only in subjects with elevated IL-6 levels (hazard ratio (HR) 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4, 7.3) and not in those without IL-6 elevation, suggesting effect modification by IL-6 in the association between CMV and CVD-related mortality [52].