RERAs do you trust your machine ?

[dwd1249]

After doing a bit of reading on rera I don't know if I trust my a10 to be that accurate in detecting them.
My results are so low that it's not an issue for me, just a passing interest.

[ginzo]

Having just updating in July of this year to a 10 model from an 8, that had virtually no data to offer to the average user. I feel confident that it is pretty accurate.

I make this statement not as a expert on apnea, but since I use 2 versions of software to check my daily status, and they both are within a hair of each other in readings, that this to be the basis of my belief. Like you, my RERA's are almost nill.

[Sleeprider]

I notice a correlation to RERA as registered by the PRS1 machines, and how I feel. I'm actually more sensitive to the RERA index (RDI) than AHI. It is a bit hard to see how it's calculated from the waveform.

[Terry]

After doing a bit of reading on rera I don't know if I trust my a10 to be that accurate in detecting them.
My results are so low that it's not an issue for me, just a passing interest.

It's not possible to tell for certain without EEG data, but yea, PRS1 RERA numbers in Sleepyhead mirror how good/crappy I feel, pretty well.

I'm not sure if the machine is calculating it or Sleeepyhead, but it seems to work pretty well for me.

[Mosquitobait]

I had Terry's experience as well. I was given a 560 as a loaner while they were getting a replacement. I think the Airsense gets the RERAs. Try using a lower straight pressure and you will see it.

[OpalRose]

RERA's definetly correlate with how I feel. I have managed to get the numbers down after about 6 months. Some days, I don't see any RERA's at all.

I'm sure my data is accurate. I use Sleephead and Encore Basic, and they both report the same.

It's a good idea to use more than one software program for comparing. And yes, I know the data is read off the SD card and comes from the machine.

[JamesW]

I posted this question myself and here is my experiences. I have a Resmed Airsense 10 that was purchased new in November and Australian made in 2015. I had no RERA readings from that machine. I sent it back to be looked at under warranty as it was very noisy and now have a loan machine, a Resmed Airsense 10 that was made in Australia in 2014. I now have RERA readings in my data, however always less than .09 There is a difference in the loan machine in that it can be set for straight CPAP, Auto or Auto For Her. My sleep doctors technician's advice is to forget the RERA readings as they can be associated with the dreaming state of sleep, and as the figures are so low they are not anything to worry about. The fact that the newer machine did not record them while the older one does was of interest to me.

[ginzo]

From Wikipedia under Respiratory disturbance index:

The respiratory disturbance index (RDI) — or respiratory distress Index — is a formula used in reporting polysomnography (sleep study) findings. Like the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), it reports on respiratory events during sleep, but unlike the AHI, it also includes respiratory-effort related arousals (RERAs). RERAs are arousals from sleep that do not technically meet the definitions of apneas or hypopneas, but do disrupt sleep. They are abrupt transitions from a deeper stage of sleep to a shallower.

A RERA is characterized by increasing respiratory effort (and thus decreasing esophageal pressures) for 10 seconds or more leading to an arousal from sleep, but one that does not fulfill the criteria for a hypopnea or apnea. The gold standard for measuring RERAs is esophageal manometry, as recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). However, esophageal manometry is uncomfortable for patients and impractical to use in most sleep centers.

Some research studies have found that a high RDI was significantly correlated with excessive daytime sleepiness, and that this correlation was stronger than that for the frequency of oxygen saturation decreases below 85%, but other studies have found only a weak correlation.
Formula

RDI = (RERAs + Hypopneas + apneas) X 60 / TST (in minutes). That is, RDI means the average number of episodes of apnea, hypopnea, and respiratory event-related arousal per hour of sleep. (TST is "total sleep time".)

[parkerdt]

My doctor says that RERAs without an EEG are simply a guess and he recommends the machine data on them be ignored.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but my doctor is young and seems well connected to the latest research.

Dave

[sonicboom]

I am in general agreement that they should be ignored unless you have a low low AHI but still feel crappy in the AM in which case a look at your data could show you if you had a lot of RERAs that might be something to follow up on and try to decrease. I also flag UF 1 and 2 in sleepyhead as well as something to examine more closely if I feel crappy or more tired but have a low AHI.