AHI score question

[CrazyCarl]

So something just occurred to me that I am curious about. Wen't to doctor who ordered I get a apnia study done. So the sleep place calls and said I get to do an at home sleep study and to come pick up the equipment, which was a little blue box with a mic, a finger sensor, and what looks like an oxygen tube. So I think great I don't have to go sleep in the clinic. After I drop off the take home equipment I am asked no questions and told i should get results in a week.

I then get a call and told to my doctor requested an in clinic test. So I show up for my appointment and a very nice tech gets me all ready with the sensor and lets me try on some marks to see which is comfortable for me. While we are doing this I ask what is the point of the take home if I had to come to the clinic. He tells me that the take home is only there to determine if my apnea is bad enough that I needed to come into the clinic.

I guess my real question is that how did they determine my AHI score and how many anpeas I had if I was sleeping with the mask on that night. I see on the results that with the varying degrees of pressure from the mask that my anpea numbers decreased but that means the score that I have isn't really my AHI score had i slept a whole night without a mask???????? I am also curious why with the cpap machine at the lowest setting of 5 I had lower scores than I did with it set up to 10. I have attached a snippit of the results below.
http://imgur.com/rzSjZQT

[palerider]

I guess my real question is that how did they determine my AHI score and how many anpeas I had if I was sleeping with the mask on that night. I see on the results that with the varying degrees of pressure from the mask that my anpea numbers decreased but that means the score that I have isn't really my AHI score had i slept a whole night without a mask????????

I am also curious why with the cpap machine at the lowest setting of 5 I had lower scores than I did with it set up to 10. I have attached a snippit of the results below.
http://imgur.com/rzSjZQT

first, not 'scores', just AHI.

second, they determined the AHI at a particular pressure by counting up how many apneas and hypopneas you had, and dividing by hours slept.

thirdly, because you don't sleep the same all night long, different sleep stages, and positions, often require different pressures, and also as you're going to sleep, your throat may not have relaxed into full apnea mode...

[CrazyCarl]

I guess my real question is that how did they determine my AHI score and how many anpeas I had if I was sleeping with the mask on that night. I see on the results that with the varying degrees of pressure from the mask that my anpea numbers decreased but that means the score that I have isn't really my AHI score had i slept a whole night without a mask????????

I am also curious why with the cpap machine at the lowest setting of 5 I had lower scores than I did with it set up to 10. I have attached a snippit of the results below.
http://imgur.com/rzSjZQT

first, not 'scores', just AHI.

second, they determined the AHI at a particular pressure by counting up how many apneas and hypopneas you had, and dividing by hours slept.

thirdly, because you don't sleep the same all night long, different sleep stages, and positions, often require different pressures, and also as you're going to sleep, your throat may not have relaxed into full apnea mode...

Gotcha on the score ... so AHI is always determined with a mask at varying pressures? Also is it normal that the pressure they determined I should be at I was only at for 2 min during the study?

[Classy]

No AHI is not only when you use the machine. You also probably had a sleep study prior to getting the machine. You need to be at certain level without the machine for the insurance to approve it. My AHI averaged 48 but was 75 on my back without the machine.

[palerider]

I guess my real question is that how did they determine my AHI score and how many anpeas I had if I was sleeping with the mask on that night. I see on the results that with the varying degrees of pressure from the mask that my anpea numbers decreased but that means the score that I have isn't really my AHI score had i slept a whole night without a mask????????

I am also curious why with the cpap machine at the lowest setting of 5 I had lower scores than I did with it set up to 10. I have attached a snippit of the results below.
http://imgur.com/rzSjZQT

second, they determined the AHI at a particular pressure by counting up how many apneas and hypopneas you had, and dividing by hours slept.

Gotcha on the score ... so AHI is always determined with a mask at varying pressures? Also is it normal that the pressure they determined I should be at I was only at for 2 min during the study?

no, AHI is *always* determined by counting how many events you have, divided by how many hours you sleep.

you asked a specific question about the pressures, so I answered that