Similarly, in our current study we observed reduced IL-10 levels (1.8 ± 1.4 pg·mL−1) when compared to the healthy controls from the research by Stumpf et al. These authors also looked at the ratio of TNF-α to IL-10 and found it to be significantly higher in the CHF group vs. the control group (3.2 ± 1.2 vs. 0.4 ± 0.2). Here, TNF is linked to congestive heart failure.