How reliable is CPAP's sleep report?

My Resmed Airsense 10 reports an AHI of 1.5-3 every morning. According to a titration study, the current settings bring my AHI down to a 1. When I asked my doctor why my AHI in the study was so much lower than what my CPAP reports, he explained that the events it was flagging didn't exist and that my actual nightly AHI is around 1. Is this accurate? Is my CPAP machine unusual for reporting such a high AHI? Or am I receiving sub par treatment, where other CPAPs report AHIs of below 1 despite false events? If my AHI is really a 1, then why am I still experiencing debilitating sleep apnea/UARS symptoms like frequent awakenings, overly vivid dreams, headaches and extreme exhaustion? Is my CPAP really applying the right pressure? Should I disregard it's daily sleep report?

Sleep studies don't count events unless you are asleep. The CPAP machines doesn't know if you are asleep or not. So often the CPAP reports a higher AHI.

There is more to good sleep than a low AHI.

Sounds to me like you need to try a higher min. pressure setting as symptoms are all those of untreated OSA.

You should also be aware that your AHI will vary considerably from day to day. There is not a single number, rather a range. Different people also do better with different AHI numbers, some feel well rested at AHI's of 3 to t5, others need to see less than 2, and so on. Your sleep study was one night, at one place. Life varies. Also, the difference between 1 and 1.5 to 3 is not a great difference.

Julie wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:54 pm

Sounds to me like you need to try a higher min. pressure setting as symptoms are all those of untreated OSA.

I've moved my min up from 11 to 18 to absolutely no effect

What is the event category breakdown of your AHI?
If there are a lot of centrals (Clear Airway per SleepyHead) those won't reduce with more pressure.
Before increasing pressure you first should make sure that what you are wanting to fix with more pressure is fixable with more pressure.

DankShroud wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:05 pm

My Resmed Airsense 10 reports an AHI of 1.5-3 every morning. According to a titration study, the current settings bring my AHI down to a 1. When I asked my doctor why my AHI in the study was so much lower than what my CPAP reports, he explained that the events it was flagging didn't exist and that my actual nightly AHI is around 1.

Your actual numbers aren't as low as the brief period you slept during your titration in a strange bed covered with wires because real life isn't like that brief snapshot of a part of one nights sleep.

Your pressures are probably too low for real life (titration numbers are frequently wrong... they're a decent starting point, but not as accurate as some people would like them.