Genome-wide Screen of Otosclerosis in Population Biobanks: 18 Loci and Shared Heritability with Skeletal Structure

Otosclerosis is one of the most common causes of conductive hearing loss, affecting 0.3% of the population. It typically presents in adulthood and half of the patients have a positive family history. The pathophysiology of otosclerosis is poorly understood and treatment options are limited. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified a single association locus in an intronic region of RELN. Here, we report a meta-analysis of GWAS studies of otosclerosis in three population-based biobanks comprising 2,413 cases and 762,382 controls. We identify 15 novel risk loci (p