Using a CPAP to check sleep apnea
Hello
One of my friend suspects he suffers from Sleep Apnea. But the time to get a medically monitored night is huge here.
I was wondering if he could use a CPAP machine (I could lend him an old one I have) and use it for one night, in order to measure his AHI
If the answer is yes, which settings would you use? (the machine I could lend him is a RESMED Airsense 10
Thank you
RE: Using a CPAP to check sleep apnea
Yes and no.
The trouble is there is no way we could tell if he is apnea free as he will be receiving at least a treatment level of 4cmw. If no signs of apnea are present we can only conclude that he is well treated at the pressures used.
Assuming he is generally healthy and has no serious pulmonary conditions ( he would no) it should be safe.
Id try these settings, basicly the machine min. I expect this to be at leasta not uncomfortable as the pressure is below what most adults find comfortable.
Make sure a SD card is installed
Mode:auto
Min=max=4 ( machines min)
EPR OFF (really doesn't' mater)
Ramp=Off
Post OSCAR daily charts for evaluation.
RE: Using a CPAP to check sleep apnea
Not medical advice, but yeah.
Are there CPAP vendors that will give you take-home sleep studies? Those alone could be diagnostic, if the night monitoring that you're referring to is in hospital. Alternatively, if he, you, or someone around you has a pulse oximeter, that could be quite informative, but it's not diagnostic, as it cannot detect EEG arousals and therefore nor harder-to-detect sleep-disordered breathing.
Easiest path forward, in my opinion, is get your friend to try the CPAP on minimal settings, as Gideon mentioned, and then come here right away so that we can see and interpret the OSCAR data for you.
