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How do I interpret my Oximetry Report?
#11
RE: How do I interpret my Oximetry Report?
(08-25-2013, 07:06 PM)MAPnea Wrote: I hate to ask another question, but I've followed this thread with interest and hope someone will be able to explain a few things to me about my pulse oximetry report. I am using the same pulse oximeter as PaBlum. I understand what constitutes an "event", but wonder if I should be alarmed (or not) at the number of events I am having.

Event Data
Sp02 Total Events: 15
Time in Events (min) 23.7
Avg. Event Dur. (sec) 94.7
Index (1/hr) 1.9
% Artifact 1.1
Adjusted Index (1/hr) 1.9
%Sp02 Data
Basal Sp02 (%) 95.4
Time (min) < 88% 0.0
Events <88% 0
Minimum Sp02(%) 91
Avg Low Sp02 (%) 93.1

Event Data Pulse
Total Events 93
Time in Events (min) 45.6
Avg. Event Dur. (sec) 29.4
Index (1/hr) 11.6
% Artifact 1.1
Adjusted Index (1/hr) 11.8
Avg Pulse Rate (bpm) 62.4
Low Pulse Rate (bpm) 48

I use an oxygenator at 2.5 (Liters? not certain what the unit is) when I sleep and I live at an elevation of 5,600'. My AHI is always below 5.0 (except when the power goes out and the oxygen/CPAP stops). I qualified for CPAP mostly because of A-Fib and my cardiologist is slowly reducing my digoxin and blood pressure meds at the moment.

Should I be concerned about the number of Pulse Events? Or is it fairly "normal" in the scheme of things?

Thanks!
Technology is wonderful. It appears that your therapy in my opinion is working well for you. Assuming your Contec device is in proper working order I see nothing concerning in this report.
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#12
RE: How do I interpret my Oximetry Report?
(08-25-2013, 03:47 PM)vsheline Wrote: The reason the SpO2 waveform will "lag" is because the blood is pumped earliest to the lungs and brain and only later reaches the fingers (where the P-O is located) about 20 to 40 seconds later, depending on pulse rate. An example of lag is if the CPAP "Flow" waveform shows an apnea ending with a lot of deep breathing, the SpO2 might not start rising until 20 to 40 seconds later.

Similarly, the Pulse Rate waveform may lag about 15 seconds, because the recorded pulse rate may actually be an averaged value and the averaging process may introduce a delay of perhaps 15 seconds in the reporting (waveform) of Pulse Rate.

That is helpful to know, thanks for posting it.
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#13
RE: How do I interpret my Oximetry Report?
MAPnea

These readings are well within a normal pattern. If you look at the strip chart, you will see some of these events are low or even bottomed, and these are actually noise generated by moving, hitting the pulseox, or other types of shifting. The rest fits well within a normal pattern. If you think there is some cause for concern, do a multi night monitoring, then wait a while, and do it again, and compare the two sets. Every night is different, so you will be able to average it out. Again, I would recommend setting the clock on the pulseox to match the PAP, and once read out, match the data to the PAP data in Sleepyhead - the read outs and the strip charts will be combined there so you can view them against the AHI events. This will make it easier to understand the relationship.
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#14
RE: How do I interpret my Oximetry Report?
Thank you so much, STLMark and DocWils. I didn't think about noise being a factor and this makes sense when I look at my ResScan data. I think I'll give SleepyHead a try because it sounds like comparing the PulseOximeter results with the PAP data is easier than "eye-balling" it with ResScan. I'm new at becoming an informed CPAPer and so encouraged by the dialogue, learning and sharing that takes place on Apnea Board.
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