[CPAP] AHI Reading confuses me

[Zainabpb]

I have been using my Resmed Airsense Auto for 2 weeks now. My was a 50 and with the machine it went down to 1.5 to 1.7. Now for a few day it went up to 2.5 to 2.8. What does this mean.  I don't understand the 2 different numbering .

[Walla Walla]

Welcome to Apnea Board! AHI can fluctuate from night to night due to many conditions like sleep position, diet etc. A change of 1.5 AHI to 2.5 AHI isn't unusual.
If you want you can post a chart from sleepyhead software here and someone can take a look at it. The link for sleepyhead and how to post charts are below.

[PaulaO2]

Totally normal. Like Walla said, there's a lot of factors that go into sleep, with or without CPAP use.

The time to get concerned is when it consistently rises without going down. That means an adjustment would need to be made. Since you are so new, I strongly suggest starting a sleep journal.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...leep_diary

[mesenteria]

Is there, or could there be, a way of determining the variance in one's data so that the standard deviation from month to month could be known by our many users?  Does sleepyhead already work on this and provide a reading?  After about a month of 'successful' treatment with AHI's comfortable in an acceptable and narrow range, one would want to know if a run of nights' data is showing a significant deviation from 'normal range'.  

Each of us has his/her normal deviation from night-to-night.  Shouldn't we have a good approximation of what that is, in standard form?  If a person ranges between 0 and 2.2, but over one week has them running at 3.4, that's quite a jump and may mean something.  Or, it might just be confounding and confusing to people who are still well below an AHI of 5...surely.

I'm just swinging in the dark here, because people do often post with this question, wondering at what point they should sit up and pay attention to variance in their data.

[Walla Walla]

Is there, or could there be, a way of determining the variance in one's data so that the standard deviation from month to month could be known by our many users?  Does sleepyhead already work on this and provide a reading?  After about a month of 'successful' treatment with AHI's comfortable in an acceptable and narrow range, one would want to know if a run of nights' data is showing a significant deviation from 'normal range'.  

Each of us has his/her normal deviation from night-to-night.  Shouldn't we have a good approximation of what that is, in standard form?  If a person ranges between 0 and 2.2, but over one week has them running at 3.4, that's quite a jump and may mean something.  Or, it might just be confounding and confusing to people who are still well below an AHI of 5...surely.

I'm just swinging in the dark here, because people do often post with this question, wondering at what point they should sit up and pay attention to variance in their data.

 You can use the Statistics page in sleepyhead for tracking trends. However determining what your acceptable variance is going to be will be different for everyone. So most people pick a target number and if it's under that they're happy.  If it goes above that and stays there than it's time to start tweaking.

[PaulaO2]

The Overview tab in SleepyHead can be used in many ways. This is how I do it, especially when looking at trends or to evaluate an entire month, week, or whatever.

Far too many factors go into the quality (and quantity) of sleep even for non-apnea folks. I don't think one can put a mathematical formula on it to determine norms. What we can do, though, is evaluate for ourselves what our data usually is. For example, I know mine typically stays 3.5 or lower. When I see it over that amount, then I try to remember what happened the day before, what time I went to bed, when I got up, what meds I might have missed or taken more of, etc. If I notice more over that limit, then I evaluate further.

This is why we advocate for data capable machines.