Hypopneas and Arousals vs Apneas

Hi, love this forum. I have used a CPAP for the last 13 years almost every night - I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea at that time 13 years ago. At that time, starting to use a CPAP totally changed my life.

So, I have been bugging my PCP for a while, that hey, it's 13 years later, don't you think maybe you might want to take a look at the sleep apnea again - my only major medical condition?

So eventually it worked - I had another sleep study. This time I was diagnosed with only mild sleep apnea, but I'm a little confused about the results.

The apnea index was very low: only 0.3/hr for the night.
Awakenings index was higher: 2.2/hr
Hypopnea index was quite high: 15.6/hr
Arousal index was highest: 21.9/hr

I guess what I am wondering is how serious are arousals for sleep quality. How serious are hypopneas. Is that enough reason to be using a cpap? Why are my arousals higher than my hypopneas - is that still a breathing issue? Thought I might see if anyone's got any input on that here. Thanks, all!

Colin Worth wrote: So eventually it worked - I had another sleep study. This time I was diagnosed with only mild sleep apnea, but I'm a little confused about the results.

The apnea index was very low: only 0.3/hr for the night.
Awakenings index was higher: 2.2/hr
Hypopnea index was quite high: 15.6/hr
Arousal index was highest: 21.9/hr

I guess what I am wondering is how serious are arousals for sleep quality. How serious are hypopneas. Is that enough reason to be using a cpap? Why are my arousals higher than my hypopneas - is that still a breathing issue? Thought I might see if anyone's got any input on that here. Thanks, all!

All of those mean fragmented sleep. Your AHI Is 15.9 (apnea + hypopnea)

Here is an explaination of RERA's.
Respiratory Effort Related Arousal (RERA)
• A sequence of breaths characterized by marked decreased in airflow for at
least 10 secs, with increased respiratory effort, no desaturation and which
leads to an arousal from sleep
Here is a link to How to interpret your Sleep Study. http://www.daveburrows.com/cpap/sleepst ... pstudy.pdf

Great link - just what I was looking for. Thanks