In sensitivity analyses restricted to a primary admission diagnosis of respiratory failure or pneumonia (non-COVID = 19 n = 68 and COVID-19 n = 58), we again found that Ang-2, Ang-2:1 ratio, SAA and sRAGE were significantly different between groups with the same directions of effect (Additional file 1: Table S5). The gene discussed is ANGPT2; the disease is pneumonia.