What do the leak numbers mean?

[junior49]

For example, last night I had: Median - 0.0, 95th %ile - 7.2, Max - 20.4. A couple days ago I had: Median - 6.0, 95th %ile - 55.2, Max - 141.

Can someone tell me how to interpret these numbers?

Also, I don't really understand why they seem to be so vastly different?

[Pugsy]

Median is the median average.
95% number means that for 95% of the night you were at OR below that number.
Maximum is obviously the highest leak. If you look at the report and the leak line...likely a brief spike while adjusting the mask.

ResMed machines report excess leak only meaning they subtract the mask vent rate prior to reporting the leak. So what you see is all excess leak. ResMed says they can compensate pretty well for leaks up to 24 L/min...so if you stay well below that amount of leak..at least on paper the leaks aren't likely to be a huge issue. Any leak that wakes us up..is unwanted because anything that wakes us up is unwanted.

Respironics machines report leaks differently so don't be confused if you see totally different numbers being reported by a Respironics machine user.

Leaks will vary from night to night for any number of reasons. We might be more restless and toss and turn more and thus the mask might get dislodged more. Sometimes we just have bad nights with no reason known. Sometimes the mask material gets old and needs to be replaced. Sometimes the darn things won't keep a seal no matter what we do.