Age-, Sex-, and Ancestry-Specific Prevalence of Hearing Loss in UK Biobank and All of Us Research Program

Hearing loss (HL) is a leading cause of global disease burden, but limited information is available regarding differences among individuals of diverse ancestral backgrounds. Here, we assessed age-, sex-, and ancestry-specific prevalence of HL in 827 406 participants from UK Biobank (UKB, N = 448 193) and All of Us Research Program (AoU, N = 379 213). HL was defined based on electronic health records and self-reported information, and HL prevalence was calculated for each subgroup. Age trends and prevalence differences between sexes and ancestries were tested. Age-standardized prevalence was computed for UKB and AoU using the combined sample size of the two cohorts as the standard population. The overall HL prevalence was 28% in UKB (24% in females; 34% in males) and 16% in AoU (13% in females; 20% in males). Sex differences were statistically significant across all age groups in UKB, and among participants aged >55 years in AoU. Across ancestry groups, males had a higher prevalence of HL than females, except for those of African descent in the AoU sample (10% in females and 9.5% in males). The ancestry-specific prevalence was highest among those of European descent in both UKB (29%) and AoU (20%), and lowest among those of African descent (12%) in UKB and Central/South Asian descent (7.3%) in AoU. The HL polygenic risk score was associated with HL in both female and male samples. Overall, this study provides comprehensive evidence that sex differences in HL prevalence should be considered in the context of population diversity.