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Central apnea question

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WittyCoffeeRook3105 +0 points · over 6 years ago Original Poster

My recent sleep study report did not mention central apnea as a concern. I've been reading about how CPAP therapy can sometimes cause that, sometimes temporarily. Does anyone have experience with this? Would the AHI number increase on my nightly sleep reports, even with a good mask seal? I don't mean to borrow trouble but wonder what to watch for....?

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sleeptech +0 points · over 6 years ago Sleep Enthusiast

It certain very specific and rare cases, if CPAP pressure is too high it can, in theory, induce central apnoeas. If it didn't show up on your sleep study you should be fine. If you are worried, just keep an eye on your AHI, because this will include both central and obstructive events. As long it is < 5, you're all good.

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Borristhefish +0 points · over 6 years ago

I agree from what I have been told that incorrect pressure can cause central apnea's. A central apnea alone is not detected by the cpap machine as a ca event. The combination of an osa and a ca are detected as an ahi. A sleep study can detect them separate. If central apnea events where a concern the Dr who reviewed the study I believe would have discussed different therapy options which uses different pressure for your needs. I have central apnea events but only a few an hour. My osa events are my issue, I did score ahi for mixed, and my last study which was done recently after titration in the lab went down. So pressure is important for all apnea events. The lab for the study for me put a chest strap to detect ca events. You could ask your doctor if you are still concerned about ca after your study was performed, and your mask does not leak as well as your pressure set correctly. If you had none in the lab but your concerned consider the study process titrated you which means the process would detect your concern as you had while sleeping to little and to much pressure as well as your 02 was monitored. No concern of your health should be left or ignored. If the study could not detect a ca then your doing well. If your still not satisfied talk to your doctor. Even a home spo2 to provide you comfort that your o2 is what you expect it to be with cpap

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sleeptech +0 points · over 6 years ago Sleep Enthusiast

Most CPAP machine will indeed detect central events and score them separately to obstructive events. Having said that, I wouldn't rely to much on a machine's ability to differentiate. A low score is good regardless because it is a strong indication that there are no events of any type. This is one reason that the machines are deigned to overestimate AHI or, to put it another way, to err on the side of a false positive for having events. That way, if it says that everything is fine it's probably right (although obviously not infallible), but if it says there is a problem it may be wrong and everything may be OK anyway. It's common practice for medical equipment.

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WittyCoffeeRook3105 +0 points · over 6 years ago Original Poster

Thank you so much!

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