Effect of nasal and sinus surgery in patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea.

BACKGROUND: Nasal obstruction is associated with snoring, sleep disordered breathing, and OSA. Abnormal nasal physiology is an important aspect of OSA etiology.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine if isolated nasal surgery in patients with and without OSA could improve sleep quality after surgery.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Computerized searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, google scholar and the Cochrane library through June 2017. Two independent investigators performed the articles searching, screening and the data extraction.

RESULTS: There were 19 studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria including a total of 896 patients. These studies were divided into two subgroups depending on diagnosis with and without OSA. In subgroup OSA (n = 14), there was a significant improvement in the pooled results of Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) with isolated nasal surgery. In subgroup without OSA (n = 5), the pooled mean difference of ESS before and after surgery was similar. In each subgroup, there was no significant improvement in the Apnea Hypopnea Index.

CONCLUSIONS: The pooled results showed isolated nasal and sinus surgery for patients with OSA could improve subjective sleep parameters and reduce daytime sleepiness, but had no significant improvements on objective parameters. In patients without OSA, it was ineffective to improve sleep quality.