IL6 and hypertensive disorder: There is evidence from rodent studies, suggesting that prenatal exposure to cytokines, specifically IL-6 which is produced in response to influenza and other inflammatory processes, is associated with hypertension in adult offspring.44,45 As discussed earlier, the relationship between in utero exposure to the 1957 influenza pandemic and development of schizophrenia has been studied,17–22 and several groups have examined birth cohort effects associated with the 1918 pandemic.23–25