[Equipment] Two Machines - Two AHI Readings

[archangle]

Reading this thread gives me even more evidence for my belief that the precision of the AHI is not very good. In other words, anything below 5 is considered "good" so clinically there is no difference between a 0.3 and a 3.0. In other words, from a statistical point of view they're equivalent.

That's sort of an insurance thing. AHI=5.1, you get coverage from insurance. AHI=4.9, not covered. In theory, people right around the threshold, either above or below aren't at a great risk of harm from untreated apnea, but you need to draw the line somewhere.

A separate problem is that AHI isn't the whole story, but insurance and doctors want a number to work with. In some cases a person with low AHI might actually be suffering from the effects of apenea more than a person with higher numbers.

[Sleepster]

0.3 = 3, so if I give 0.3 dollar (33 cents), you exchange for me for 1 dollar (100 cents)
Nice doing business with you

When I last exchanged American money for Canadian, or vice-versa, and this was some time ago, the exchange rate made a significant difference. It might have been something like $1.00 US would be exchanged for $1.25 Canadian. But if instead you exchanged coins, they wouldn't bother with the exchange rate. If I gave them 4 US quarters they'd give me 4 Canadian quarters, and vice-versa.

Large differences are significant, small ones are not.

In other words, 2 + 2 = 5 for sufficiently large values of 2.