Genetic screening of 15 hearing loss variants in 77,647 neonates with clinical follow‐up

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Abstract
Background: To analyze the genotype distribution and frequency of hearing loss genes in newborn population and evaluate the clinical value of genetic screening policy in China.Methods: Genetic screening for hearing loss was offered to 84,029 neonates between March 2019 and December 2021, of whom 77,647 newborns accepted the screening program with one‐year follow‐up. The genotyping of 15 hot spot variants in GJB2, GJB3, SLC26A4, and MT‐RNR1 was performed on microarray platform.Results: A total of 3.05% (2369/77,647) newborns carried at least one genetic hearing loss‐associated variant, indicated for early preventive management. The carrier frequency of GJB2 gene was the highest, at 1.48% (1147/77,647), followed by SLC26A4 gene at 1.07% (831/77,647), and GJB3 gene at 0.23% (181/77,647). GJB2 c.235delC variant and SLC26A4 IVS7‐2A>G variant were the most common allelic variants with allele frequency of 0.6304% (979/155,294) and 0.3992% (620/155,294), respectively. 10 children are identified as homozygous or compound heterozygous for pathogenic variants (4 in GJB2, 6 in SLC26A4), and 7 of these infants had passed the hearing screening. Following up of the genetically screened newborns revealed that genetic screening detected more hearing‐impaired infants than hearing screening alone. Genetic screening helped identify the infants who had passed the initial hearing screening, and reduced time for diagnosis and intervention of hearing aid. In addition, we identified 234 newborns (0.30%, 234/77,647) susceptible to preventable aminoglycoside antibiotic ototoxicity undetectable by hearing screening.Conclusion: We performed the largest‐scale neonatal carrier screening for hearing loss genes in Southeast China. Our results indicated that genetic screening is an important complementation to conventional hearing screening. Our practice and experience may facilitate the application and development of neonatal genetic screening policy in mainland China.

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