Question 7 (2 points) Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a cytokines released as part of the immune response to an infection. Elevated IL-6 is suggested to be predictive of severe and even moderate illness among individuals infected with COVID-19. Suppose we wanted to conduct a study to see if this is true among patients with COVID-19 in South Carolina. Assuming from previous studies in other areas of the US, the mean IL-6 is 11.48 pg/mL (s.d.=10.84 pg/mL) among individuals with moderate disease and 7.66 pg/ml (s.d.=4.52 pg/mL) among individuals that are asymptomatic or have mild illness, how many people (in total) would we need to enroll in our new study to determine if there is a difference in means with 99% confidence and 90% power? Amended From: Guirao JJ, Cabrera CM, Jimenez N, Rincon L, Urra JM. High serum IL-6 values increase the risk of mortality and the severity of pneumonia in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Mol Immunol. 2020 Oct 14;128:64-68. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2020.10.006. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33075636; PMCID: PMC7556792 32 O 203 O 66 O 80