TY - JOUR T1 - Dynamic albumin values as clinical surrogate for COVID-19 therapeutics JF - Journal of Investigative Medicine JO - J Investig Med SP - 1260 LP - 1260 DO - 10.1136/jim-2021-001895 VL - 69 IS - 6 AU - Johanna S van Zyl AU - Joost Felius AU - Amit Alam AU - Shelley A Hall AU - Aayla K Jamil AU - Cedric W Spak AU - Robert L Gottlieb Y1 - 2021/08/01 UR - http://hw-f5-jim.highwire.org/content/69/6/1260.abstract N2 - We are delighted to see a letter to the editor1 essentially agreeing with the message conveyed through our retrospective observation: that a dynamic, accelerated fall of albumin levels in patients admitted with severe COVID-19 predicts progression to critical COVID-19.2 Our express intent was to spur further clinical investigation.Our conclusion remains unchanged after accounting for pre-existing liver disease. COVID-19 frequently causes a self-limited transaminitis in patients without liver disease. Liver function measured at hospital admission using alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase for the patients in our study who progressed to critical disease, compared with those who did not progress, was similar (table … ER -