Exploring the genetic relationship between hearing impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Hearing loss has been identified as the potentially largest modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), estimated to account for a similar increase in AD risk as the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene.

Methods

We investigated the genetic relationship between hearing loss and AD, and sought evidence for a causal relationship.

Results

We found a significant genetic overlap between hearing impairment and AD and a polygenic risk score for AD was able to significantly predict hearing loss in an independent cohort. Additionally, regions of the genome involved in inflammation were identified to be shared between hearing difficulty and AD. However, causality tests found no significant evidence of a causal relationship between these traits in either dire

SUBMITTER: Mitchell BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7517507 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature