Comparative analysis of allele frequencies of 15 deafness gene variants between hearing-loss and normal populations in Henan, China.

Background: Hearing loss is found in more than 5 % of cases worldwide. Hearing loss is divided into three types: Sensorineural hearing loss, Combined hearing loss and Conductive hearing loss. Among them, no less than 50 % of pediatric cases of sensorineural hearing loss are genetic. In Henan, China, there are no statistics on the allele frequency of deafness gene variants.

Methods: We divided 2178 subjects enrolled at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou College from January 2019 to March 2021 into a hearing loss group and a normal control group. We performed array and pathogenicity classification for screening the 15 deafness gene variants, calculated and compared the allele frequency of the deafness gene variants, and then compared the hearing loss diagnosis rate between the hearing loss group and the normal control group.

Results: We found that in the hearing loss group, the overall allele frequency of all detected variants was 16.6 %. Comparative analysis showed that the allele frequencies of c.235delC variant, c.538C > T variant and c.919-2A > G variant were significantly higher than those of the East Asian population average in the gnomAD database. At the same time, our study confirmed that c.538C > T variant may not be the disease-causing variant of hearing loss.

Conclusions: These results support genetic counseling and rational prediction of risk for deafness.