Interaural and sex differences in the natural evolution of hearing levels in pre-symptomatic and symptomatic carriers of the p.Pro51Ser variant in the COCH gene
Publication year
2024Source
Scientific Reports, 14, 1, (2024), pp. 184, article 184ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
Otorhinolaryngology
Journal title
Scientific Reports
Volume
vol. 14
Issue
iss. 1
Page start
p. 184
Subject
Otorhinolaryngology - Radboud University Medical Center - DCMNAbstract
Hearing impairment constitutes a significant health problem in developed countries. If hearing loss is slowly progressive, the first signs may not be noticed in time, or remain untreated until the moment the auditory dysfunction becomes more apparent. The present study will focus on DFNA9, an autosomal dominant disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the COCH gene. Although several cross-sectional studies on this topic have been conducted, a crucial need for longitudinal research has been reported by many authors. Longitudinal trajectories of individual hearing thresholds were established as function of age and superimposed lowess curves were generated for 101 female and male carriers of the p.Pro51Ser variant. The average number of times patients have been tested was 2.49 years with a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 4 years. In addition, interaural and sex differences were studied, as they could modify the natural evolution of the hearing function. The current study demonstrates that, both in female carriers and male carriers, the first signs of hearing decline, i.e. hearing thresholds of 20 dB HL, become apparent as early as the 3rd decade in the highest frequencies. In addition, a rapid progression of SNHL occurs between 40 and 50 years of age. Differences between male and female carriers in the progression of hearing loss are most obvious between the age of 50 and 65 years. Furthermore, interaural discrepancies also manifest from the age of 50 years onwards. High-quality prospective data on the long-term natural evolution of hearing levels offer the opportunity to identify different disease stages in each cochlea and different types of evolution. This will provide more insights in the window of opportunity for future therapeutic intervention trials.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [245132]
- Electronic publications [132436]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [93207]
- Open Access publications [106000]
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