[CPAP] What Is Clear Airway on Sleepyhead Data

[Sleepster]

When I looked at my stats, it showed .70 hypopnea; .94 obstructive; .47 clear airway; .0 apnea.

Those first three numbers are added together to get the AHI.

0.70 + 0.94 + 0.47 = 2.11.

I saw that ".0 apnea" in your screenshot, too. I have no idea what that means. Stuff like that is the reason it's nice to also have ResScan (or in my case EncoreBasic) so there's a way to see if SH is goofing up. Remember that it is still beta software, and probably will continue to be for some time if not forever.

[me50]

When I looked at my stats, it showed .70 hypopnea; .94 obstructive; .47 clear airway; .0 apnea.

Those first three numbers are added together to get the AHI.

0.70 + 0.94 + 0.47 = 2.11.

I saw that ".0 apnea" in your screenshot, too. I have no idea what that means. Stuff like that is the reason it's nice to also have ResScan (or in my case EncoreBasic) so there's a way to see if SH is goofing up. Remember that it is still beta software, and probably will continue to be for some time if not forever.

I agree. I also look at ResScan to see if there is a difference! Thanks so much for your help.

[Smitharbie]

I'm not sure everyone is getting the same results on sleepyhead, probably because the machines are different. I have a Resmed Autoset S9 series machine. Please notice that CA can stand for Central Apneas, but CA can also stand for Clear Airway. On the Sleepyhead data, it lists CA, OA, and Clear Airway Apneas. CA and Clear Airway are two different numbers, and yes, the three do make up the AHIs. It was interesting what me50 said about Clear Airway apneas happening during awake times or just before awakening. On my charts it was the last part of the night when all of a sudden the Clear Airway Apneas came. And yes, the AHIs shot up and without understanding clearly what Clear Airway Apneas are, it is difficult to use AHIs as a means of knowing whether or not you're getting a decent night sleep. I guess I coult "ignore" the Clear Airway Apneas because they're not really happening during deep sleep (or whatever), but that doesn't explain why the machine is listing them and why they would want them to be listed in the first place if they are supposedly meaningless. ???

[Smitharbie]

When I looked at my stats, it showed .70 hypopnea; .94 obstructive; .47 clear airway; .0 apnea.

Those first three numbers are added together to get the AHI.

0.70 + 0.94 + 0.47 = 2.11.

I saw that ".0 apnea" in your screenshot, too. I have no idea what that means. Stuff like that is the reason it's nice to also have ResScan (or in my case EncoreBasic) so there's a way to see if SH is goofing up. Remember that it is still beta software, and probably will continue to be for some time if not forever.

When I downloaded Sleepyhead I didn't know you could get ResScan. Could someone please point me to the ResScan program? I would love to get it, too!

[SuperSleeper]

When I downloaded Sleepyhead I didn't know you could get ResScan. Could someone please point me to the ResScan program? I would love to get it, too!

All the free downloadable programs are available by following directions in our Private Files & Links area, here:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-P...-and-Links

[note: you'll need to be logged into your forum account for access to that area]

There's a thread on ResScan in that forum - just read it and follow the instructions on how to get it.

[Smitharbie]

When I downloaded Sleepyhead I didn't know you could get ResScan. Could someone please point me to the ResScan program? I would love to get it, too!

All the free downloadable programs are available by following directions in our Private Files & Links area, here:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-P...-and-Links

[note: you'll need to be logged into your forum account for access to that area]

There's a thread on ResScan in that forum - just read it and follow the instructions on how to get it.

I got it! Downloading it now! Thank you! I appreciate it!

[Sleepster]

Please notice that CA can stand for Central Apneas, but CA can also stand for Clear Airway.

For data collected by a CPAP machine, there is no difference. ResMed calls them central apneas, Respironics calls them clear airway apneas.

(A true central apnea occurs when the airway is not only clear, but the diaphragm is not trying to pull air into the lungs.)

On the Sleepyhead data, it lists CA, OA, and Clear Airway Apneas. CA and Clear Airway are two different numbers, and yes, the three do make up the AHIs.

I've not seen SleepyHead do that. To my knowledge the AHI is the sum of the CA index, the OA index, and the hypopnea index.

[DeepBreathing]

Please notice that CA can stand for Central Apneas, but CA can also stand for Clear Airway.

For data collected by a CPAP machine, there is no difference. ResMed calls them central apneas, Respironics calls them clear airway apneas.

(A true central apnea occurs when the airway is not only clear, but the diaphragm is not trying to pull air into the lungs.)

On the Sleepyhead data, it lists CA, OA, and Clear Airway Apneas. CA and Clear Airway are two different numbers, and yes, the three do make up the AHIs.

I've not seen SleepyHead do that. To my knowledge the AHI is the sum of the CA index, the OA index, and the hypopnea index.

My copy of SH (v0.9.3-0) using data from an S9, shows "apnea" (indeterminate type), obstructive (OA), clear airway (CA) and hypnopoea. The AHI is the sum of all four indices.

    [attachment=495]

As I understand it, central apnoea is caused by failure of the brain stem function which tells you to breathe. This is the largest component of my aonoea and both my sleep therapist and cardiologist are worried by it - I don't think it's something you can just ignore. I've also read some papers which believe there is a similarity with the mechanism of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). I lost two babies to SIDS, and now I wonder if I'm carrying a bad gene.

[Smitharbie]

I now have the ResScan application running, and it's different from Sleepyhead. It doesn't list "Clear Airway" like Sleepyhead does, just lists "Unknown Apneas" instead. ResScan does seem to be a much better program, however more difficult to use because it provides so much. And yes, I agree with DeepBreathing that you wouldn't want to ignore data necessarily, but it might be better to find out what the data really implies before discounting it. Maybe it doesn't mean too much for most users, but for a few it might be significant. And btw, I'm using the ResMed Autoset S9 series on CPAP setting for both applications.

[me50]

I now have the ResScan application running, and it's different from Sleepyhead. It doesn't list "Clear Airway" like Sleepyhead does, just lists "Unknown Apneas" instead. ResScan does seem to be a much better program, however more difficult to use because it provides so much. And yes, I agree with DeepBreathing that you wouldn't want to ignore data necessarily, but it might be better to find out what the data really implies before discounting it. Maybe it doesn't mean too much for most users, but for a few it might be significant. And btw, I'm using the ResMed Autoset S9 series on CPAP setting for both applications.

I selected a day that I had numbers in all 4 types and compared them in SH and ResScan and this is what I got:

Rescan:

Hypopnea: 1.1
Obstructive .2
Central .1
Unknown .2

SH:
Hypopnea: 1.17
Obstructive: .21
Central: .21
Unknown: .21

both add up to 1.8 AHI in the software but in ResScan the numbers don't add up to 1.8 AHI (.1 is unaccounted for).