Respironic Leak rate definitions

Dano1465 · Post by **Dano1465** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:37 pm

Hello

On the Oscar reports There is a header called statistics. There are numbers associated to Min, Med, 95% and Max. I'm not sure what numbers mean with regards to leak rate. Last night my numbers were min - 0, med - 5, 95% - 35 and max - 50. I'm not sure if these are good, bad or awful. I hope this makes sense.

I have attached a link

https://imgur.com/lWiS7yX

Any help would be appreciated.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:51 pm

And if you would have attached this to your previous thread, we could get some clues by seeing what else is there...

Dano1465 · Post by **Dano1465** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:55 pm

Julie wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:51 pm
And if you would have attached this to your previous thread, we could get some clues by seeing what else is there...

Sorry... I will do that now

robysue1 · Post by **robysue1** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 5:17 pm

Dano1465 wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:37 pm
Hello

On the Oscar reports There is a header called statistics. There are numbers associated to Min, Med, 95% and Max. I'm not sure what numbers mean with regards to leak rate. Last night my numbers were min - 0, med - 5, 95% - 35 and max - 50. I'm not sure if these are good, bad or awful. I hope this makes sense.

I have attached a link

https://imgur.com/lWiS7yX

Any help would be appreciated.

Your data looks like this:

The units for leak rates are Liters/min, and this represents airflow being lost to the semi-closed, pressurized system comprising the blower, the hose, the mask, and your upper airway. Because you are using a PR DreamStation, your machine actually reports two sets of leak numbers: The Total Leak Rate and the Leak Rate. The Total Leak Rate includes the intentional leak rate for your mask that is designed to prevent you from rebreathing the CO2 you exhale with each breath. The Leak Rate is an approximation of the excess leakage---i.e. the difference between the Total Leak Rate and the expected, intentional leak rate for your mask.

The Min Leak Rate, Median Leak Rate, 95% Leak Rate, and Max Leak Rate are Liters/min numbers have statistical definitions. For a very detailed explanation of how Median and 95% numbers for a given data set are defined, go to my blog entry about Average, Median, and 95% numbers

The medium length version:

The Min Leak Rate is the smallest leak rate recorded during the entire night. The fact that your Min Leak Rate = 0 L/min means there were some periods during the night when the only leaks detected were the expected, intentional leaks designed into your mask.

The Median Leak Rate is the number where for 50% of the night, your leaks were AT or BELOW this number, and for 50% of the night, your leaks were AT or ABOVE this number. The fact that your Median Leak Rate = 5 L/min means that for 50% of the night (about 4 hours and 25 minutes), your excess leaks were AT or BELOW 5 L/min. And for 50% of the time (about 4 hours and 25 minutes), your excess leaks were AT or ABOVE 5 L/min.

Whether a Median Leak Rate of 5 L/min is acceptable depends on information we don't yet know because you haven't told us enough information. In general, leaks in the neighborhood of 5 L/min are so small that they don't affect the efficacy of therapy, regardless of how long they last. But many people find long lasting leaks of 5 L/min pesky in the sense that they wake up frequently to fiddle (unsuccessfully) with the mask. And all those mini-wakes needed to fiddle with the mask disrupt the quality of the sleep. And if that's the case, the person definitely needs to figure out a way to fix the leaks.

The 95% number is the number where for 95% of the night, your leaks were AT or BELOW this number and for 5% of the night, your leaks were AT or ABOVE this number. The fact that your 95% Leak Rate = 35 L/min means that for 95% of the night (about 8 hours and 25 minutes), your Leak Rat was AT or BELOW 35 L/min. And for 5% of the night (about 25 minutes) your Leak was AT or ABOVE 35 L/min. Since the "Large Leak territory" for PR machines is greater than that for Resmed machines, this means that it is highly unlikely that your largest leaks lasted long enough to have a severe affect on the efficacy of your therapy. And sure enough, the Oscar report says that you spent 4.65% of the night (less than 20 minutes) with leaks that were large enough to be flagged as official Large Leaks. So once again, the importance of this number is whether the leaks you are experiencing are disrupting your sleep rather than affecting the efficacy of your therapy.

The Max Leak Rate is just the largest leak rate recorded during the entire night. At some point your leak rate reached 50 L/min. Since the Oscar report indicates that you did spend time in official Large Leak territory, that tells us that and excess leak rate of 50 L/min is large enough (at your pressures) to trigger a Large Leak Flag. Since the time spent in Large Leak territory is minimal, whether to worry about the leaks goes back to whether the leaks you are experiencing are disrupting your sleep rather than affecting the efficacy of your therapy.

Dano1465 · Post by **Dano1465** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 5:33 pm

robysue1 wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 5:17 pm

Dano1465 wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:37 pm
Hello

On the Oscar reports There is a header called statistics. There are numbers associated to Min, Med, 95% and Max. I'm not sure what numbers mean with regards to leak rate. Last night my numbers were min - 0, med - 5, 95% - 35 and max - 50. I'm not sure if these are good, bad or awful. I hope this makes sense.

I have attached a link

https://imgur.com/lWiS7yX

Any help would be appreciated.
Your data looks like this:

The units for leak rates are Liters/min, and this represents airflow being lost to the semi-closed, pressurized system comprising the blower, the hose, the mask, and your upper airway. Because you are using a PR DreamStation, your machine actually reports two sets of leak numbers: The Total Leak Rate and the Leak Rate. The Total Leak Rate includes the intentional leak rate for your mask that is designed to prevent you from rebreathing the CO2 you exhale with each breath. The Leak Rate is an approximation of the excess leakage---i.e. the difference between the Total Leak Rate and the expected, intentional leak rate for your mask.

The Min Leak Rate, Median Leak Rate, 95% Leak Rate, and Max Leak Rate are Liters/min numbers have statistical definitions. For a very detailed explanation of how Median and 95% numbers for a given data set are defined, go to my blog entry about Average, Median, and 95% numbers

The medium length version:

The Min Leak Rate is the smallest leak rate recorded during the entire night. The fact that your Min Leak Rate = 0 L/min means there were some periods during the night when the only leaks detected were the expected, intentional leaks designed into your mask.

The Median Leak Rate is the number where for 50% of the night, your leaks were AT or BELOW this number, and for 50% of the night, your leaks were AT or ABOVE this number. The fact that your Median Leak Rate = 5 L/min means that for 50% of the night (about 4 hours and 25 minutes), your excess leaks were AT or BELOW 5 L/min. And for 50% of the time (about 4 hours and 25 minutes), your excess leaks were AT or ABOVE 5 L/min.

Whether a Median Leak Rate of 5 L/min is acceptable depends on information we don't yet know because you haven't told us enough information. In general, leaks in the neighborhood of 5 L/min are so small that they don't affect the efficacy of therapy, regardless of how long they last. But many people find long lasting leaks of 5 L/min pesky in the sense that they wake up frequently to fiddle (unsuccessfully) with the mask. And all those mini-wakes needed to fiddle with the mask disrupt the quality of the sleep. And if that's the case, the person definitely needs to figure out a way to fix the leaks.

The 95% number is the number where for 95% of the night, your leaks were AT or BELOW this number and for 5% of the night, your leaks were AT or ABOVE this number. The fact that your 95% Leak Rate = 35 L/min means that for 95% of the night (about 8 hours and 25 minutes), your Leak Rat was AT or BELOW 35 L/min. And for 5% of the night (about 25 minutes) your Leak was AT or ABOVE 35 L/min. Since the "Large Leak territory" for PR machines is greater than that for Resmed machines, this means that it is highly unlikely that your largest leaks lasted long enough to have a severe affect on the efficacy of your therapy. And sure enough, the Oscar report says that you spent 4.65% of the night (less than 20 minutes) with leaks that were large enough to be flagged as official Large Leaks. So once again, the importance of this number is whether the leaks you are experiencing are disrupting your sleep rather than affecting the efficacy of your therapy.

The Max Leak Rate is just the largest leak rate recorded during the entire night. At some point your leak rate reached 50 L/min. Since the Oscar report indicates that you did spend time in official Large Leak territory, that tells us that and excess leak rate of 50 L/min is large enough (at your pressures) to trigger a Large Leak Flag. Since the time spent in Large Leak territory is minimal, whether to worry about the leaks goes back to whether the leaks you are experiencing are disrupting your sleep rather than affecting the efficacy of your therapy.

Thanks so much for taking the time for your detailed answer. I really appreciate it

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:30 pm

Julie wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:51 pm
And if you would have attached this to your previous thread, we could get some clues by seeing what else is there...

I disagree.

Nothing wrong in creating a separate thread about definitions and terms. It may help others who are searching for definitions - and they may not find the reply if it's buried in a personal thread.

@dano - I'm terrible for having typos all over the place. Which is why I take the liberty of telling you that you - and only you - can edit the subject of your first post on this thread to correct the typo. Use the pencil you see on the top right, and simply edit the subject box.

Edited to add: Oh, I see from Pugsy's post that being an Admin, she can edit a thread's subject. Good to know.

robysue1 · Post by **robysue1** » Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:58 am

ozij wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:30 pm

Julie wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:51 pm
And if you would have attached this to your previous thread, we could get some clues by seeing what else is there...
I disagree.

Nothing wrong in creating a separate thread about definitions and terms. It may help others who are searching for definitions - and they may not find the reply if it's buried in a personal thread.

I have to say that I agree with ozij here. Dano's question in this thread's original post was about basic definitions that confuse a whole lot of beginners; burying that question and its answer in a thread about Dano's problems makes it harder for beginners to find using obvious search methods.

In other words, I think newbies do need to use one thread when they're posting about their specific issues that need to be resolved in order to optimize their CPAP therapy. But when a newbie is asking a genuinely general question about xPAP or definitions of terms that pop up on Oscar graphs? Put that in a new thread with a general title that indicates the specific question being asked. And Dano did that here.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:26 am

robysue1 wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:58 am
I have to say that I agree with ozij here.

And I agree with both Ozij and robysue.

The "keep posts to a single topic" thing isn't set in stone and it's not a capital crime if it doesn't always happen and sometimes people need to use some common sense when the knee jerk reaction is to chastise someone for something.

Answer the question if you can or want to answer and if not...move on.

I will edit original subject line though so as to make it clear that it's Respironics numbers that are being discussed here.

FWIW....most of the other brands also report total leak and not just excess only leak (which is what resmed reports) so I think everyone needs to understand what they are seeing and if using any machine other than ResMed....don't go comparing ResMed leak numbers to all the others. ResMed is actually the outlier here.

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