TY - JOUR
T1 - Public Health Burden of Hearing Impairment and the Promise of Genomics and Environmental Research
T2 - A Case Study in Ghana, Africa
AU - Adadey, Samuel Mawuli
AU - Awandare, Gordon
AU - Amedofu, Goffrey Kwabla
AU - Wonkam, Ambroise
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - Hearing impairment (HI) is one of the most disabling conditions of major global health burden that contributes adversely to the social and economic development of a country, if not managed properly. A proper assessment of the nationwide burden and etiology of HI is instrumental in the prevention, treatment, and management of the condition. This article sought to perform an expert review of HI in Ghana to determine the present knowledge of its burden and possible causes of the condition. A literature search was conducted in PubMed using the following keywords: "hearing loss" OR "hearing impairment" OR "deafness" AND "Ghana." The literature was scanned until July 20, 2017, with specific inclusion of targeted landmark and background articles on HI. From the search, 18 of out 5869 articles were selected and considered for the review. The results of the search indicated that there were no extensive studies to determine the national burden of HI in Ghana. However, the few studies assessed suggested that the disease is either acquired or inherited. The burden of acquired HI was higher in adults than children, women than men, and people working in a noisy environment. Regarding the genetic cause, specific founder mutations in GJB2 gene (R143W, L79P, V178A, R184Q, A197S, I203K, and L214P) was the only identified genetic cause of HI in Ghana, but the other HI genes were not investigated. There has been some modest effort to study HI in Ghana, but comprehensive studies on the genetic and environmental etiologies (using the "multi-OMICS" approaches), classification, and burden of HI on Ghana are needed.
AB - Hearing impairment (HI) is one of the most disabling conditions of major global health burden that contributes adversely to the social and economic development of a country, if not managed properly. A proper assessment of the nationwide burden and etiology of HI is instrumental in the prevention, treatment, and management of the condition. This article sought to perform an expert review of HI in Ghana to determine the present knowledge of its burden and possible causes of the condition. A literature search was conducted in PubMed using the following keywords: "hearing loss" OR "hearing impairment" OR "deafness" AND "Ghana." The literature was scanned until July 20, 2017, with specific inclusion of targeted landmark and background articles on HI. From the search, 18 of out 5869 articles were selected and considered for the review. The results of the search indicated that there were no extensive studies to determine the national burden of HI in Ghana. However, the few studies assessed suggested that the disease is either acquired or inherited. The burden of acquired HI was higher in adults than children, women than men, and people working in a noisy environment. Regarding the genetic cause, specific founder mutations in GJB2 gene (R143W, L79P, V178A, R184Q, A197S, I203K, and L214P) was the only identified genetic cause of HI in Ghana, but the other HI genes were not investigated. There has been some modest effort to study HI in Ghana, but comprehensive studies on the genetic and environmental etiologies (using the "multi-OMICS" approaches), classification, and burden of HI on Ghana are needed.
KW - biomarkers
KW - disease burden
KW - gene-by-environment interaction
KW - genetics and genomics
KW - Hearing impairment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85034211691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/omi.2017.0145
DO - 10.1089/omi.2017.0145
M3 - Article
C2 - 29140768
AN - SCOPUS:85034211691
SN - 1536-2310
VL - 21
SP - 633
EP - 637
JO - OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology
JF - OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology
IS - 11
ER -