AHI

[DAZZBOD]

I have read on the forum mention of AHI.
I know what the letters stand for (Apnea/Hypopnea index) but what is it?
currently my readouts on my Remstar Auto are
7 0.7\h
30 0.9\h

I believe the lower the better?
Anyway, I got these values after a bit of tweaking.

Anyone tell me if this is good or bad?

Daz.

[James @ Intus]

That's VERY GOOD!

It means the last 7 days you averaged 0.7 apnoeas or hypopnoea (or a mix) per hour and 0.9 over the last 30 days. On a 7 hour night, you are now only getting some 6 arousals. That's OSA well under control in anyone's book. It will be hard to improve on those numbers but yes, 0 would be ideal. But even healthy people struggle to get 0.

Well done to you. Now you can tell everyone the secret to achieving that

[iterry]

AHI rating what does it mean?

I've had my APAP machine for about a month now and finally got the book out to read all of the settings. I haven't had a clue what AHI means until I got on line the other day. I'm still confused by the thing though. My readings are 7 day = 4.2 and 30 day is 3.8. Can someone interpret this for me?

I see my doctor for my 1st visit after getting the machine this week.

[Tigers Fan]

Hi iterry

Welcome to the forum.

7 day and 30 day are average figures for those periods. If one's AHI is 5 or below, you're doing well. 0 AHI is considered impossible but you can get damn close - which is perfecto!

Pre-CPAP, people commonly have AHI in the 40 to 80 region. AHI 4 means you are disturbed to an extent on average 4 times per hour. Please note the 'average' - could be 12 events in one hour out of three. 'Disturbed to an extent' means your breathing was interrupted, you may or may not be aware of an event - but it affects your sleep.

TF

[James @ Intus]

My readings are 7 day = 4.2 and 30 day is 3.8. Can someone interpret this for me?

It means you are a statistical great success. Anything under 5 is considered "OSA fully under control". If you're a perfectionist, you could pull all the tricks out of the bag and aim for a consistent 2-3 but don't make it an obsession, you are doing great as you are. Note that "perfect sleepers" won't be scoring 0 easily either so zero is definitely an unreasonable target.

It all depends really on how you feel. Some people can be severely sleepy in the day from AHI 5.5. Others have developed coping mechanisms and feel just fine with AHI 14. So if you hover around 4 and you still feel you could do better in the day, aim to reduce it. If you right now feel like a 'lamb in spring', just sit back and relax, enjoy the ride.

[symmit]

If you're a perfectionist, you could pull all the tricks out of the bag and aim for a consistent 2-3 but don't make it an obsession

Some of us resemble that remark!

[James @ Intus]

Some of us resemble that remark!

And they make for fascinating reading!

[iterry]

Thanks for the info

Thanks everybody for helping me understand the AHI rating. I'm feeling pretty darn good now after a month of this thing and so this is good news to me that those numbers below AHI 5 means it's working. I was sure hoping that I was cured LOL.

The next question is how do you go about lowing the rating. Particularly since I'm asleep when these events are happening. I'm sure theres a post around here about that.

Thanks again

IT

[Fredxx]

I think your comment "I'm feeling pretty darn good now after a month of this thing" says everything important about successful management of the OSA - it is all about getting back your ability to function and quality of life.

If you do feel the need to join the stats chasers and find out what is going on, that is the point it starts to cost money. There are a few threads about it, but essentially you need a pulse oximiter that records your pulse and blood oxygen levels through the night. When you have an Apnoea, your blood oxygen drops, so a significant drop in the reading tells you when it happened.

The Pulse Oximiter can be picked up on Ebay from China pretty easily for about £100. The sit on your finger while you sleep and the two most common devices either record onto the device on the finger, or onto a wrist strap. make sure you get one that records and can download to the computer (USB).

[Barely Awake]

Anyone tell me if AHI is per night or per hour?

As AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index) features pauses in breathing of 10 seconds, with a count of 60-80 it is some going to hold your breath for tens seconds more than once every minute in an hour.

With Mild AHI was 5-15, Moderate 15-30, Severe over 30; I thought a reading of 50 (when divided into a hoped for 8 hours x 60 minutes) meant I stopped breathing (apnoea episode) roughly every ten minutes during sleep.

[Tigers Fan]

Number of events (apnoeas and hypopnoeas) per session of 'x' hours divided by 'x'. Thus, number of events per night averaged out to per hour.

[Fredxx]

AHI is based on the total number of complete cessations (apnea) and partial obstructions (hypopnea) of breathing occurring per hour of sleep, so an AHI of 50 means on average you are having almost one per minute

[James @ Intus]

With Mild AHI was 5-15, Moderate 15-30, Severe over 30; I thought a reading of 50 (when divided into a hoped for 8 hours x 60 minutes) meant I stopped breathing (apnoea episode) roughly every ten minutes during sleep.

Indeed as the above two said. Let me run the calcs for you.

AHI 50 would be an average of 50 events per hour slept. If you sleep for 8 hours, it's 400 events per night. Or 60/50 = 1.2 is one event every minute and 20 seconds. So with an AHI of 50, on average (important) you'd get max stretch of uninterrupted sleep of one minute and 20 seconds. No wonder one would feel a tad miserable, isn't it?! Imagine someone keeping a night watch on your side and poking you with a stick 400 times, roughly 50 times an hour. Every night. Until you blow him away with CPAP.

Note though that it is an index, an averaged out value. Often, OSA kicks in later in the night, so in the first 2 hours you could have an AHI of around 10 and later around 70. Or 5 when on your side and 90 when on your back.

We've seen people get AHI/ODI 90 on their studies, they stop breathing every 40 seconds and each breathing interruption can last as long as 30 seconds. Figure that one out. Every 40 seconds, hold your breath for 30 seconds. That really messes you up!

[Barely Awake]

We've seen people get AHI/ODI 90 on their studies, they stop breathing every 40 seconds and each breathing interruption can last as long as 30 seconds. Figure that one out. Every 40 seconds, hold your breath for 30 seconds. That really messes you up!

Hence my confusion, any figures higher than 60 didn't really compute if an event = not breathing for 10 seconds.

Thanks for clearing that up James.

[Guest]

I was told pre CPAP I was 'upto' 73, so I might of been getting the odd few ten minutes shut eye every night.