Oximeter Data

I recieved a pulse Oximeter over the weekend and my wife wanted to be the first to test drive it.

The data shows that she only had 8 desats and they were mild. I would say that this is a good baseline of a healthy patient. Right?

How many desats are mild, moderate, severe. Is a desat pretty much the same as an apnea?

Isn't her lowest pulse rate of 47 really low?

Tomorrow I will post my data with CPAP and see what I get.

Healthy is usually above 95% O2. However, as people get older, healthy could be anything above 90% O2.

What does your oximeter define as a "desat"? mild? moderate? severe?

I don't think that desat is the same as an apnea although there may be a correlation between the two.

Pulse of 47 may or may not be low. For atheletic types, it would be very normal. For people on hypertension beta blockers or possibly other meds, that pulse rate may also be normal.

Thanks for your reply.

The chart posted above has 7 degrees of severity. It considers anything below 89% worth highlighting. All of this patients desats were between 91% and 93% so I would barely even consider these a desat.

I bought this PulseOx for me but also because my father-in-law and mother both describe times when they stop breathing and/or choaking while asleep (I should say their partners do), but they refuse to go for a sleep study. I am going to use this as a first step and hopefully the data will rule out apniea but if it does not at least it will push them to get a full sleep study.

Sorry. I'm unable to see any images from the computer I'm using right now.

I forgot to mention that desats may be caused by hypopneas just as easy as they can by apneas.

Anyway, you have a good plan for your father-in-law and mother ... hope it works out and you can get them the help they deserve.

I am curious how this device works. It is charted with time so one can relate potential desats to apnea events?

OK. I can see the chart now on my own PC.

Yes. This is what a normal chart should look like. I have a CMS50 series oximeter too.

Yes Jason. You do need to synchronize the oximeter recording start with your PAP machine start ... by turning off ramp option you can synchronize easy by turning both on at the same time.

If you are handy with a PC graphics software you can merge your CPAP report with the oximeter report and scale them both the same for easier analysis.

I do not think a sleeping pulse of 47 is low. Its supposed to be low, that's the point of sleeping! I would be more concerned if the sleeping low was 60.

Jason S. wrote:I do not think a sleeping pulse of 47 is low. Its supposed to be low, that's the point of sleeping! I would be more concerned if the sleeping low was 60.

Thanks. I wasnt sure. This is all new to me. All I can remember about pulse from my sleep study at the lab was high pulse during apneas. I wasnt sure about lows.

Treehorn wrote:Thanks. I wasnt sure. This is all new to me. All I can remember about pulse from my sleep study at the lab was high pulse during apneas. I wasnt sure about lows.

Actually, I think i might want to pull back a little from saying it wasn't too low. I spoke to my mom who was an RN and she said 47 could be a bit low, although it varies from person to person. For example, my wife has a waking pulse in the 60's but she is a runner, whereas my waking pulse is probably around 80. So her's naturally would be lower than mine in sleep.

She is slim and has always had a low resting pulse. I am not surprised her sleeping pulse is also low. She is not concerned but will still mention it to her MD next time she is there.

Below is my data from last night. I had a great CPAP night with an AHI of 0.4.
IMO the data from the CPAP machine and the Pulse Ox data show that the CPAP is very effective for me.
I had some DeSats but nowhere near what I had before CPAP.

Next I am going to do a Pulse Ox study without CPAP and see what nasty numbers I get. Then I am going to do a night with my dental appliance (mandibular advancement).

I am doing this all to learn how to interpret the pulse ox reports and thought I would share. If there is no interest however i will not post the other reports.

PATIENT 2 - WITH CPAP

Treehorn,

To your question as to when the oximeter defines a "desat" event ...

The SPO7500 defines a drop of 4 as a "desat" event. I believe that is from the program's "Help" data.

That means even if the baseline was at 95 ... if it dropped to 91, it is (by the SPO7500) a "desat" event.

My doctor (and Medicare) consider 88 and below an issue that needs to be addressed. As I recall, Medicare authorizes oxygen at 88 and below.

Good luck.

Great info.

So this event early in the night where i spent 6.5min <SpO2 89% may be considered "significant" to a MD.
I assume one would look for multiple events like this before making any conclusions.



I find it interesting tht the CPAP machine did not register an apnea at this time frame. I assume there are other causes for this event such as heart problems?

Thanks for the replys. The SPO7500 is pretty cool.

Trehorn......

My compliments on your use of the Scientific Method.....your desire to experiment and to learn.

Great charts....good work.

Gerald

Treehorn wrote:...did not register an apnea at this time frame. I assume there are other causes for this event...

In my PSG, I only had hypopneas but plenty of significant desaturation. You can desat wo having apnea events.

Here is my SPO7500 report from last night without any CPAP.

I guess I was expecting more red flags and shiny lights on the report.

I did some research on pulse oximetry and it seems that a oxygen desaturation index (ODI) of 5 or more typically correlates with a sleep breathing disorder (SBD).

My wife had a ODI of 1.1
With CPAP I had a ODI of 2.3
Without CPAP I had a ODI of 6.4




I feel relatively comfortable now that I have leared what I need to be able to give this to my SPO7500 to my mom or father-in-law and be able to make some sense of the reprort. As someone said before in another thread, hopefully I dont get picked up for practicing medicine withour a license.

MUSE-INC:

Great info but my CPAP machine did not register a hypoapnea at that time either. So I wonder if something else can cause the DeSat or if the CPAP machine may not have picked up on apnea or hypoapnea.