Better metric than AHI?

[SithLord]

It seems to me, AHI is not the best metric to monitor. Hypopnea's are given the same weight as Obstructive Apnea's. Yet, OA's are far worse. IMHO, the AHI should be a weighted average of OAI and HI.

In addition, the number of episodes per hour isn't as important as how long you spent in all the episodes? I could have an OAI one night of 4.0 with an average duration of 10 secs/episode. Then next night, an OAI of 3.0 with an average 20 secs. I can see that a higher number of episodes will disrupt sleep cycles more. But isn't the former less wear & tear on the heart/body despite a higher AHI? (40 secs of not breathing vs 60 secs).

So … isn't the "Total Time in Apnea" (as reported by Encore Pro) the most telling statistic?

Am I off base or the last to figure this out? .

[Wulfman]

Well, we could always trust our doctors prescribed pressures and sleep lab results......pull our smart cards out of our machines and go by "How do you feel".

Since this (self monitoring via software) is all done through air sensors and not actual sleep lab sensors where the desaturations can actually be measured, we have to take these reports and results in a "relative" nature. Apneas and hypopneas can both cause desaturations, so......if we can keep them to a minimum the better off we are. The longest one I've (supposedly) had was a 72-second one shortly after I started in 2005. I had another one of 60 second duration not long after. Since then, an occasional one of more than 12 seconds, but not many. I should probably consider myself "lucky" that I don't know what I experienced over the years....before therapy.

Den

[Bearded_One]

AHI and RDI are traditional and quite firmly ingrained in the industry; it would be VERY difficult to change to something else. Many governmental policies are set using AHI, they are not going to change.

[Bobmcdonld]

As I just posted elsewhere, it is my understanding that a desaturation of blood O2 level is necessary for an hypopneac event and the CPAP cannot measure that, correct?


Bob

[ozij]

I wish I had a "time spent in apnea" measurement in my software - I don't, and I miss.

However, time spent in apnea can't come instead of AHI or RDI, since we do want to know how many times our sleep was interrupted by breathing disruptions.

If a change in pressure consistently shortens time spent in apnea without changing the total number, it would still be very good.

I would say we need both - and if we had all the PSG info at home (including oxygen saturation and EEG) that would be perfect....

Or maybe not - for some of us that would be a trigger for endless obsessing...
O.

[blarg]

So … isn't the "Total Time in Apnea" (as reported by Encore Pro) the most telling statistic?

Personally, I don't think so. Most of my events are very short in duration, but result in arousals, meaning I get no real sleep. My total time in apnea numbers are always low, no matter how I feel.

I think it's a good idea to monitor ALL the numbers. Total Time In Apnea means nothing if you're leaking all night. I think we do focus too much on AHI over the other numbers, when really it's the whole picture that needs to be taken into account.

#1 best metric: HOW YOU FEEL!