Vol. 7 Issue 1 Part A

Background: One of the acute-phase reactants that may rise by a factor of up to a thousand during inflammation is serum amyloid A (SAA). It served as a helpful measure of illness severity in individuals infected with the COVID-19 virus. This study was out to assess SAA's effectiveness in predicting the course and prognosis of COVID-19.

Methods: This case control study was carried out on 60 patients aged from 23 to 55 years old, both sexes, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed COVID-19 patients and 20 healthy individuals. Patients were subdivided into two groups: Group (1): 20 apparently healthy subjects and Group (2): 60 PCR confirmed COVID 19 patients which sub-classified to: (mild, moderate and severe cases.

Results: The SAA level was positively correlated with CRP (r= 0.714, P= 0.001), serum ferritin (r= 0.738, p< 0.001), D. Dimer (r= 0.477, P= 0.039), and IL6 (r= 0.832, P< 0.001), and negatively correlated with total protein (r= -0.607, P = 0.006). This indicates that SAA is positively correlated with these variables. With a sensitivity of 89.57% and a specificity of 68.19%, the cutoff SAA for COVID-19 patients is more than 126.03 mcg/ml. Patients with mild symptoms or no symptoms at all had much lower SAA levels than those with moderate or severe COVID-19 symptoms, and vice versa; patients with severe symptoms also had significantly higher SAA levels than those with moderate symptoms.

Conclusions: Elevated levels of the SAA protein, an indicator of inflammation, are associated with more serious disease. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of SAA in predicting the severity of COVID-19 are all improved when measured in conjunction with other inflammatory markers. This method provides the best possible disease-specific operational characteristics, which doctors may use to make better judgments in a pinch.