Fig. 3

Dynamics of five cytokines (IL-2R, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α) in COVID-19 patients during hospitalization. Four patient groups were visualized in light blue (moderately-ill patients aged < 65 years), blue (severely-ill patient aged < 65 years), light red (moderately-ill patients aged ≥65 years), and red (severely-ill patient aged ≥65 years). Due to their non-normality, cytokine levels were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. A significant difference (p-value < 0.05) was highlighted by an asterisk *. One sample from each patient was obtained from week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4 to week ≥5 after symptom onset. If one patient had multiple tests within one week, median results were obtained for our analysis