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Voice outcomes for patients undergoing surgery for obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of the different surgical techniques used in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on the postoperative voice and nasalance, and to conduct a meta-analysis through the assessment of postoperative changes.

Methods

Systematic literature review and meta-analysis of published data using the data sources, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Cochrane, and SAGE. All studies published in English specifying any upper airway surgery for treatment of snoring and/or OSA were included, provided they indicated the pre- and postoperative mean ± standard deviation (SD) values for voice parameters and nasality. The primary outcomes were the changes in preoperative–postoperative mean values of fundamental frequency (mF0), jitter, shimmer, and nasalance scores.

Results

After removal of duplications, 214 studies were potentially relevant, and 25 studies ultimately met the criteria for inclusion in the present review. Of the 25 studies evaluated in this review, 12 studies with 379 patients were available for the meta-analysis calculations. In general, a fixed-effects model was used to analyze the data in the subgroups. The meta-analysis results showed no significant differences in either subgroup analysis between the preoperative and postoperative assessments of mF0, jitter, shimmer, oral nasalance, nasal nasalance, and oronasal nasalance (All had values of p > 0.05).

Conclusion

The results of this meta-analysis indicated no significant effect of surgical treatments for snoring or OSA on glottic functioning and nasalance parameters, regardless of surgery type. Further prospective studies are needed to assess more parameters for detailed acoustic analyses.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific Grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medicana International Istanbul Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Murat Binar

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Istinye University Hospital, Liv Hospital Bahcesehir, Istanbul, Turkey

    Timur Akcam

  3. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Loca Surgical Medical Center, Istanbul, Turkey

    Omer Suha Vardareli

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Gulhane Medical School, Ankara, Turkey

    Hakan Genc & Omer Karakoc

Authors
  1. Murat Binar
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  2. Timur Akcam
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  3. Omer Suha Vardareli
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  4. Hakan Genc
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  5. Omer Karakoc
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Contributions

All persons designated as the authors have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content of the manuscript. All the authors ensure that they all gave substantial contributions: (1) to conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data (2) drafting of the manuscript or revising it for important intellectual content and (3) for final approval of the version to be published, and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to Murat Binar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. This work is a meta-analysis review and no new original data have been analyzed.

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Binar, M., Akcam, T., Vardareli, O.S. et al. Voice outcomes for patients undergoing surgery for obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 277, 3261–3281 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06101-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06101-9

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