SLPCohortEar and hearing2026

Screening for Maternally Inherited Diabetes and Deafness in Large Cohorts of Hearing Impaired and Diabetic Patients.

Lukas Varga, Silvia Borecka, Martina Skopkova and 9 others

PMID 41664274

WHAT IT FOUND

Testing for maternally inherited diabetes and deafness found the m.3243A>G variant in 0.79% of people with hereditary hearing loss and 1.68% of people with suspected monogenic diabetes, including people with only one symptom.

Key findings

01The m.3243A>G variant was found in 0.79% of the hereditary hearing loss group, 1.68% of the monogenic diabetes group, and 0.14% of the general diabetes group.

02Among 63 carriers, hearing loss was confirmed in 36 subjects, and severity was associated with age-adjusted blood heteroplasmy rather than buccal heteroplasmy.

03Three cochlear implant users achieved at least 50% word discrimination in noise and auditory performance scores of 6 to 7; the stapedotomy case had stable hearing after 3 years.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs

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What it does not show

The three groups were assembled with different inclusion criteria, so hearing status was not consistently available across all carriers. In the general diabetes group, hearing status was not questioned initially, and some hearing data came only from questionnaires. Some carriers could not be recontacted for full clinical phenotyping, so the hearing loss prevalence may be underestimated. The phenotype score was created for this study and not validated elsewhere. The cochlear implant findings come from 3 people, and the stapedotomy finding comes from a single case, so they cannot establish treatment effectiveness. The otosclerosis case may be coincidental; the paper does not establish a causal link between otosclerosis and the variant. Prevalence estimates depend on the heteroplasmy detection threshold and the selected patient groups, not the general population.

Declared interests

Funding was reported from Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja and Agentúra Ministerstva školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu SR. The supplied text does not include a conflict-of-interest statement.

The easy way to misread this

Do not conclude that cochlear implantation or stapedotomy is proven for all m.3243A>G carriers. The cochlear implant results come from 3 people, and the stapedotomy result is a single case report.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →