Humidifer Question...Affect on AHI?

For those of you that are experts, please forgive the potentially stupid question.......Is there a relationship between AHI, Hi, or Ai and the humidifier settings.?

I ask this because I have noticed that the higher the humidifier setting (range 0-2 on S8 machine), the higher the AHI (2.3 to 3.6). Leakage rate is about the same, I don't have software, but wondered if changing the humidifier setting affects AHI.

Thoughts appreciated!

It's definitely been reported by others who have changed their humidifier settings that lower HH settings (or turned off) will produce better AHI numbers. I'm not sure what the connection is, other than more humidity can also produce more nasal congestion. This may affect what the sensors detect in a person's breathing or how it actually affects a person's breathing.
But, I have no definitive explanation.
I've always used "passover" humidification, so I can't speak from first-hand experience.


Den

The term AHI is not related to humidity other than if you allow yourself to get dry the tissues in the throat and sinuses will swell some and cause a stuffy nose and increase the potential for you to have apneas. AHI is the abbreviation used for apnea /hypopnea index or the number of breathing stopages and shallow breathing spells you have occuring per hour. normal people have an AHI less than 5 per hour. i generally recommend a humidity level of a minimum of 3 for most people using 12 cm or higher and start there and if you experience dryness in absence of mask leaks then increase the temperature level until you dont get dry. if you get condensation in the tubing you can cover the tubing with some old socks or soft flannel material and this will insulate the tubing and prevent condensation and you will be able to keep the setting so you are comfortable.

This probably won't help to answer the question, but here's my $0.02 worth.

I found early on that I MUST use the heated humidifier or I suffer horribly from a very tingly nose the next day, as well as constant sneezing and blowing. Passover without heat simply does not work for me. On my legacy Remstar and subsequent M-series, the humidifier was set on 3 in the summer, and 4 in the winter. With my new PR1, I've found that the automatic setting is working flawlessly.

My AHI's have never been above 1.5, in seven plus years, although I never did check them specifically on those few rare occasions when I either forgot to turn the humidifier on, or had not refilled it.

Here's another discussion that took place about this subject sometime back.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33770&

Others have reported the same thing.


Den