IL6 and ventilator-associated pneumonia: In contrast, VAP patients exhibited a significant increase in IL-1β (738.2 pg/mL [5.5–2477] vs. 1987 pg/mL [386.5–5732]; p = 0.02) and TNF-α (51.9 pg/mL [3.5–134.6] vs. 88.6 pg/mL [37.9–245.3]; p = 0.04) from admission to follow-up, while IL-6 levels remained unchanged (12.7 pg/mL [0.84–82.0] vs. 14.6 pg/mL [4.8–241.6]; p = 0.23) (Fig. 4D).