IL6 and COVID-19: Our study shows for the first time that patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and imaging-defined MAFLD at hospital admission have significantly higher circulating IL-6 levels than their counterparts without MAFLD; increased IL-6 levels are also associated with higher odds of severe COVID-19; elevated IL-6 levels had higher odds of severe COVID-19 among MAFLD patients than non-MAFLD patients; and there is a significant interaction between elevated IL-6 levels and MAFLD with severe COVID-19.