Help Understanding Leak Rate & Statistics

[Hojo]

I'm trying to understand what the leak rates mean. 

-First, what is an acceptable level?

-Median vs 95% leak rate:  I know that median is in the middle, and 95% means that there are 5% higher and 5% lower, but that is about it.

On a few nights my median leak rate was 0, while the 95% leak rate was 21.6, I even had a night of 0 for median and 30 for the 95% how can that be, and what does that mean?

[Crimson Nape]

Median is the exact midpoint of all recorded values, after organizing them in an increasing order.  An example would be having 7 values: 0, 0, 10, 25, 0, 0, 15. First, place in order: 0, 0, 0, 0, 10, 15, and 25. The Median (or 50 Percentile) would be "0" (zero) since it falls in the middle of all the recorded values.  This also means that you didn't have any leaks for at least half of your sleep session,  The 95 Percentile (21.6 in your case) means that your recorded leaks were at this value or lower for 95% of your sleep session.  A major leak is defined as exceeding 24L/min.  At this leak rate the blowers in some CPAPs will start to loose pressure efficiency and will be unable to supply the proper pressure support for therapy.  A large leak rate will also make it difficult for the software to accurately recognize an event.

I hope this may help.

[Walla Walla]

Here read the Leaks section of Beginners Guide to SleepyHead     http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...SleepyHead

It explains how tracking leaks work.