1st months data

[ilvsleep]

Brought my sd card in to be read today. Just a few tidbits...
average time in large leak 1 minute 4 seconds
average AHI 1.6
average % night in large leak 0.2%
looking over my reports each day the large leak average is 3.7, 4.4, 7.2, 5.7, 2.7, 5.4 are these leaks high? I have wondered if my leaks were in the ok range.

[Roman Hokie]

From what I understand, ilvsleep, machines measure leaks differently. There's average, 90th percentile, and 95th percentile.

Average is just that. Average.

90th percentile means that leaks are ranked in ascending order from 0 to whatever your maximum rate of leak (generally litres per minute) were. You machine may calculate a leak rate in 30 or 60 second intervals. It's completely up to the machine's designer and no, it's not something you can change. Say you slept 500 minutes (8 hours and 20 minutes) in a night and your machine calculates every 60 seconds. That means you'll have 500 "readings" going in order from 0 l/m to, lets say 20 l/m.

The 90th percentile would be the 451st reading while the 95th percentile would be the 476th reading. Obviously, a 10 l/m rate at 95th percentile is better than 10l/m at 90th (because you have twice as many "worse" readings at 90th percentile than at 95th).

I don't know about average leak rates and how they stand up. But if those numbers were at 90 or 95 percentile for a night, that doesn't seem too bad. Especially if your numbers are considered "large". I've had some nights (in the past 10 or so) with 4, 6, and 12. Mostly 0, though. My RedMed uses the 95th percentile in the calculation both on the machine and on the software.

[ilvsleep]

So is a large leak different from an average leak?
My report says on all pages..... % of night in large leak
0% of night
average leak
5.4
That is for one of the nights during this past month
I am not sure if this is considered good or not. I can't find a place where it say 90% or 95%
Sorry I am so confused but I really want to understand this!! LOL
By the way..my son is a Hokie alumni!!

[djr1215]

So is a large leak different from an average leak?
My report says on all pages..... % of night in large leak
0% of night
average leak
5.4
That is for one of the nights during this past month
I am not sure if this is considered good or not. I can't find a place where it say 90% or 95%
Sorry I am so confused but I really want to understand this!! LOL
By the way..my son is a Hokie alumni!!

Different brands measure and give different information. I don't think the Respironics talk about 90 and 95% - I think that's in the ResMed machines.
Large leaks are when the leak is so bad the machine can't determine whether you are having apneas or whatever. The different masks have different leak rates, it should be somewhere in the book though it might not say "leak rate" - for instance, Hybrid calls it passive expiration port flow. If I understand it right, that's the expected leak rate, so you need to see what your leak is above that to know if you have a problem or not.

[cflame1]

So... are you taking the mask off before you shut off the machine?

Because large leaks are bad, it'll mess up any kind of AHI reporting/pressure adjustments.

A good thing to determine would be if the leak is due to an ill-fitting mask/cushion or just a mask coming off at the end of the night.