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Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
#1
Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
Hello Again,

So is there a proven co-relation between ahi scores and level of misery, illness, dysfunction, fatigue, etc?

My guess is there is, but only to a certain degree. I would guess it would depend on concomitant health issues, if there are many night loo trip wakings, how long the apnea's last, how they are spaced, if the person doesn't get enough restorative sleep for general health, if one has wakings from other reasons as well, how low the blood gasses go etc.

So far I've not seen much in the literature regarding how ahi affects overall quality of life etc.

Are there many here who were no longer able to function at their trades or duties?
Or did you all manage to press on with little outward effect?

The Hen, wondering in her coop.
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#2
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
TMH Wrote:Are there many here who were no longer able to function at their trades or duties?
Or did you all manage to press on with little outward effect?

If anything, the treatment has enabled me to continue in my trade, when I was about to volunteer to go out on retirement - because I could not concentrate anymore, was too sluggish, you know, old age setting in. Well, I was wrong! IT AINT OLD AGE! Resolved the apneas, got back my concentration in addition to energy, strength, interest level, reduced anxiety, not flying off the handle, no steaming head, jumping down people's throat, acidic negative comments, disagreeable, antagonistic behavior. It is a wonder I was protected from termination.

so, is there a direct correlation between AHI scores and the well being? I don't think so. But, quality of sleep does seem to figure directly with the symptoms and the resolution of these symptoms. And, AHI is one of the indications of sleep quality.

Several on this forum have had problems sleeping well even with low AHI. So, there are other things they will need to do, and are seeking, to increase their sleep and life quality.

QAL
Dedicated to QALity sleep.
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#3
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
(02-22-2015, 04:41 PM)TheManseHen Wrote: So is there a proven co-relation between ahi scores and level of misery, illness, dysfunction, fatigue, etc?

AHI is actually used as to diagnose sleep apnea. 0-4 is "normal", 5-15 "mild", 16-30 is "moderate", and over 30 is "severe". I scored over 30 myself.

There are, apparently, strong correlations between the severity of untreated sleep apnea and many unfortunate health outcomes, among which are heart failure and stroke. Successful treatment has been shown to reduce the incidence of these conditions, according to several web sites.

Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#4
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
There is as assumed correlation between lowered AHI and QoL.

Proven? Not at all. Probably not possible. Certainly not proven empirically, and probably could never be proven empirically.

But who needs proof? There is no downside to the therapy, really. If I am strangled once or twice an hour rather than 55.7 times an hour as I was pre-xPAP, I can easily buy into that being an indication of probable improvement.
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#5
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
(02-22-2015, 08:09 PM)TyroneShoes Wrote: Proven? Not at all. Probably not possible. Certainly not proven empirically, and probably could never be proven empirically.

Seems like it would be rather hard to do true a double blind study! So the best we can do is compare treated with CPAP versus not treated. If the sample is big enough we should be able to get pretty good evidence at least.

Of course science never proves *anything* absolutely, and real scientists should never pretend that it does.

Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#6
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
I took the OP to mean that can I get some assured additional quality of life if I press to reduce my AHI of 5 to 3, 2, 1, or below. We have evidence that several (though a small percentage) persons that have remarkable drops to under AHI of 2, and yet is tormented by fuzzy head exhausted dead-ish and tired feelings. They would argue their QoL has definitely DECREASED. A CPAP promise, not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, through no special powers of my own, I got remarkable QoL advancement way before I got consistently under 5 (even before consistently being under 8).

So, you can see how disappointing it is if the promise remains largely unfulfilled.

QAL
Dedicated to QALity sleep.
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#7
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
(02-22-2015, 04:41 PM)TheManseHen Wrote: So is there a proven co-relation between ahi scores and level of misery, illness, dysfunction, fatigue, etc?

To have a correlation you'd need some way to quantify misery and dysfunction. Illness and fatigue can be quantified, so it's possible to establish a statistical correlation between them and AHI. I don't know if it's ever been done.

I'm not aware of any correlations with AHI, but I would guess that they exist because research has been done in the classification of the severity of sleep apnea, and that is based on AHI. Mild, moderate, and severe apnea diagnoses are based solely on AHI.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#8
RE: Is there a proven co-relation between AHI and Quality of life?
I can confess that today it most definitely is. Last night for the first time in 8 weeks of therapy I finally achieved an AHI of <1, felt like I slept most of the night and feel great this morning, quite possibly the best since I started.
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