Why is an AHI below 5.0 considered normal?

[jjc155]

The section labeled "CPAP Definitions" states that an AHI below 5.0 is considered normal, if a person sleeps for 8 hours and gets 40 apneas that night how can that not be a problem?
What am I missing? I thought the whole idea was to not to experience a sleep apnea event? I was diagnose with a AHI of 6.4 ( considered mild ) and with the APAP machine I now
average 3.7 I feel I sleep a whole lot better now than before the APAP machine and I am hoping on getting my AHI even lower, is this realistic?

I was having 40/hour before getting a CPAP, I now average 2.5/hour. Would have loved to ONLY have 6.4/hour before. Did you have a sleep study etc or self diagnose and get a CPAP?

J-

[Rob K]

That's weird, there are several posts that are gone from this thread. Not a big deal, but I really could use the link to the information that was posted here about sleep studies in the general population and what is considered normal.

[Pugsy]

That's weird, there are several posts that are gone from this thread. Not a big deal, but I really could use the link to the information that was posted here about sleep studies in the general population and what is considered normal.

Somebody got spam button itchy fingers...and I have no idea why they decided to do that.
Sometimes spam removed posts are still available (if not too many posts have happened since the post) if you click on reply and then go looking through the list of the old posts.

Is this the post that you are missing? Arlene told me today that it was missing and she has requested to Carolyn to put it back but they probably haven't got around to doing it.
Not sure if the link will survive my copying the post but here it is just in case it doesn't
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4404207/

Arlene1963 on Wed Oct 18, 2017 4:37 am

Rob K wrote:
I searched for an hour on the internet and the forum and have not found any info on sleep studies of normal healthy persons. What is truly normal? My guess is that everyone, to varying degrees, stops breathing at some point in their sleep.



I'm interested in this information as well. This morning I went onto Google Scholar and found a study that was published in 2015 that deals with the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing in the normal population, not based on folks sent to a sleep lab and suspected of having OSA, in other words, just the general population.

"Between Sept 1, 2009, and June 30, 2013, we did a population-based study (HypnoLaus) in Lausanne, Switzerland. We invited a cohort of 3043 consecutive participants of the CoLaus/PsyCoLaus study to take part. Polysomnography data from 2121 people were included in the final analysis. 1024 (48%) participants were men, with a median age of 57 years (IQR 49–68, range 40–85) and mean body-mass index (BMI) of 25·6 kg/m2

The median apnoea-hypopnoea index was 6·9 events per h (IQR 2·7–14·1) in women and 14·9 per h (7·2–27·1) in men. The prevalence of moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing (≥15 events per h) was 23·4% (95% CI 20·9–26·0) in women and 49·7% (46·6–52·8) in men."

Note, they scored data for this study using the 2012 AASM guidelines for diagnosis.

In their conclusion they state:

"Using the most recent definitions for respiratory events, and diagnostic techniques commonly used in all modern sleep laboratories, we noted that almost every individual had some degree of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, an increasing number of apnoea and hypopnoea events per h was associated with augmented comorbidity. This finding reinforces the idea that sleep-disordered breathing should be considered as a disease with a continuous spectrum, rather than as a definite yes or no diagnosis. Individuals at high risk of incident sleep-disordered breathing-related complications should be identified so treatment efforts can be focused on them."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4404207/

[Rob K]

Thanks Pugsy, that is the link I needed.

[Tovi]

A lot of insurance will also consider your score on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and other medical issues. If you have mild sleep apnea, but are falling asleep while driving, then you need to get treated.