It is quite common to have a few random centrals even without an OSA diagnosis.Joshaldo wrote:Last night my AHI was 4.6 and for the first time I had one clear airway apnea and 2 unspecified apneas. Is it common with OSA to sometimes have centrals or is it possible I have central sleep apnea as well?
It is common to have them especially at sleep onset..entirely normal.
You would need to have a whole lot more of them every hour, all night long, every night....to have to worry about having central sleep apnea as well.
And then we have to factor in the limitation of the machine as well. It only does a one dimensional evaluation as to the status of the airway (closed vs open) and for complete and proper evaluation one needs brain wave (EEG for sleep status) and thoracic effort belt measurement.
Even if it was a real central evaluated with the additional data like it would be in a sleep study...a few random centrals are normal and no need for alarm and nothing is done about the.
So I imagine you are wondering how many does it take to start worrying? We aren't ever really told but unless I consistently saw 5 or so every hour, all night long, every night...I wouldn't be excited.
Of course if it really concerns someone....always discuss it with your doctor for their final say so.
Not long ago I had a night where I had 18 centrals...if they were real..it gave me a central index of 3 per hour. This was unusual for me..and I happened to have a really restless night due to back pain. I wouldn't be surprised if they were "tossing and turning...hold your breath" centrals due to pain.






