IL6 and Hypertension: At multivariable Cox regression, significant predictors of in-hospital mortality were: blood sodium level > 145 mmol/L (HR 9.12, 95% CI 2.15–38.52; P = 0.003), lymphocyte count < 1000 cells/μL (HR 7.45, 95% CI 1.81–30.68; P = 0.005), CVD other than hypertension (HR 6.41, 95% CI 1.51–27.22; P = 0.01), and higher IL-6 serum levels (pg/mL) (HR 1.005, 95% CI 1.001–1.009; P = 0.007) (Table 3).