Effect of rapid maxillary expansion on sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in growing patients. A meta-analysis.

Background Changes produced in the upper airway after rapid maxillary expansion makes this procedure a therapeutic option for treating sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) in children. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to analyze the evidence available for the effects of rapid maxillary expansion (RME) on SAHS, analyzing changes produced in oximetric variables: apnea-hypopnea index (AHI); oxygen saturation (SO2); sleep efficiency (SE), total sleep time (TST), percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) phase; and arousal index (AI). Material and Methods An electronic search was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Cochrane databases, and in grey literature (Op…