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Chronic <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> Infection Modulates Hearing Ability across the Adult Life Span
oleh: Stephan Getzmann, Klaus Golka, Peter Bröde, Jörg Reinders, Thura Kadhum, Jan G. Hengstler, Edmund Wascher, Patrick D. Gajewski
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2024-01-01 |
Deskripsi
While several studies have shown associations between hearing disorders and congenital toxoplasmosis, the present study investigated the impact of chronic, latent <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> (<i>T. gondii</i>) infection on hearing loss. We used a regression analysis to explore whether latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection modulates changes in hearing thresholds over an age range from 20 to 70 years. We analyzed audiometric data of 162 <i>T. gondii</i> IgG-positive and 430 <i>T. gondii</i>-negative participants, collected in the Dortmund Vital Study (DVS, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05155397), a prospective study on healthy cognitive aging. The regression analysis indicated that latent toxoplasmosis was associated with an accelerated development in hearing loss over the observed age range. Hearing loss was less frequent in IgG-positive than in IgG-negative participants up to the age of about 40 for a low (0.125–1 kHz)-frequency range. For high (2–8 kHz) frequencies, this pattern reversed for ages above 65 years. We discuss these findings on hearing function in the context of a recently proposed model, suggesting that latent toxoplasmosis can differentially affect brain functions across a lifespan.