Comprehensive Gene Panel Testing for Hearing Loss in Children: Understanding Factors Influencing Diagnostic Yield

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate factors influencing the diagnostic yield of comprehensive gene panel testing (CGPT) for hearing loss (HL) in children and to understand the characteristics of undiagnosed probands.

Study design: This was a retrospective cohort study of 474 probands with childhood-onset HL who underwent CGPT between 2016 and 2020 at a single center. Main outcomes and measures included the association between clinical variables and diagnostic yield and the genetic and clinical characteristics of undiagnosed probands.

Results: The overall diagnostic yield was 44% (209/474) with causative variants involving 41 genes. While the diagnostic yield was high in the probands with congenital, bilateral, and severe HL, it was low in those with unilateral, noncongenital, or mild HL; cochlear nerve deficiency; preterm birth; neonatal intensive care unit admittance; certain ancestry; and developmental delay. Follow-up studies on 49 probands with initially inconclusive CGPT results changed the diagnostic status to likely positive or negative outcomes in 39 of them (80%). Reflex to exome sequencing on 128 undiagnosed probands by CGPT revealed diagnostic findings in 8 individuals, 5 of whom had developmental delays. The remaining 255 probands were undiagnosed, with 173 (173/255) having only a single variant in the gene(s) associated with autosomal recessive HL and 28% (48/173) having a matched phenotype.

Conclusion: CGPT efficiently identifies the genetic etiologies of HL in children. CGPT-undiagnosed probands may benefit from follow-up studies or expanded testing.

Keywords: copy number variants; developmental delay; exome sequencing; genetic testing; pediatric hearing loss.