Adverse effects of sleep apnea during pregnancy for the pregnant woman and the fetus - overview

• Grant number: 25/06896-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Dental Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Sigmar de Mello Rode
• Grantee: Livia Rocha Passos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study is to conduct a bibliographic review of systematic reviews andmeta analyses on sleep apnea during pregnancy, evaluating the consequences of this disorderfor both the pregnant woman and the fetus, and synthesizing the findings. The review protocolwill be developed in accordance with the AMSTAR II guidelines (A Measurement Tool to AssessSystematic Reviews - 2017) and will be registered in the PROSPERO database(http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO). This overview aims to answer focused questionsbased on the PICO acronym (Population, Intervention/Phenomenon of interest, Comparison,and Outcome): P (Population) refers to pregnant women, I (Intervention/Phenomenon ofinterest) to pregnant women with obstructive sleep apnea, C (Comparison) to pregnant womenwithout sleep apnea, and O (Outcome) to the consequences for both the pregnant woman andthe fetus. Based on this framework, the research question was defined as follows: what are theconsequences of obstructive sleep apnea during pregnancy and its potential complications infetal development?Electronic searches will be conducted in the following databases: Cochrane, PubMed, Web ofScience, SciELO, Scopus, LILACS, and EMBASE. Additionally, ProQuest Dissertations &Theses Global will be used to partially capture "grey literature." The resources Medical SubjectHeadings (MeSH), Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS), and Embase Subject Headings(Emtree) will be used to select search descriptors. To minimize the risk of bias, the ROBIS(Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews) tool will be employed. The results will be presentedthrough a narrative/descriptive and statistical analysis of the data collected in this study.