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Do you have Mild Sleep Apnea, Moderate Sleep Apnea or Severe Sleep Apnea?
Mild Sleep Apnea = AHI between 5 and 15
Moderate Sleep Apnea = AHI between 15 and 30
Severe Sleep Apnea = AHI > 30


Trying to get a sense of how we break down as a group here on the forum.

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Mine is 15.4 and told Moderate
Over the years, the US standards have changed. I'm severe at 82 and always have been, but when I was first diagnosed back in the 1990's, the standard was 50 for severe. As we've learned more about sleep apnea the parameters have changed a bit.

With treatment I get down to the 1-2 events per hour that is considered normal.

Dave
In my experience, it depends on who is making the analysis and what they include in their mild-moderate-severe designations as to how you might be classified. Because of this discrepency, I have asked multiple sleep health practitioners what they would classify my numbers as. (17 AHI, 74 RERAs) It is definitely varied and there seems to be no standard.
My sleep study rated my at severe, because they include RERAs in the number/hr. When you count only AHI - I am on the cusp between mild and moderate.

Plus - a sleep study is only a snap shot of one night and these numbers vary widely from one night to the next - depending on body position, how tired, if you have had alcohol, sleep meds, etc. So this is a pretty fluid number, at best.

The "norm" for not having sleep apnea is an AHI of 5 or below. Unless I can get my numbers to 1 or below AHI, I still feel about as bad as I did before being diagnosed. There is a school of thought out there that RERAs are as harmful to your body as apneas and hypopneas and that CPAP/BiPAP treatment may not affect them very much in some people. I have often wondered if that could be a reason why some people don't improve much even when they are getting good treatment.
Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Betty Didcoct said:
... There is a school of thought out there that RERAs are as harmful to your body as apneas and hypopneas and that CPAP/BiPAP treatment may not affect them very much in some people. I have often wondered if that could be a reason why some people don't improve much even when they are getting good treatment.

Dr Krakow, as I remember it, considers high RERAs as UARS and best treated w/bi-level as I vaguely remember it. A good search on his name, Dr Barry Krakow, will bring up his website. Dr Park seems to think highly of Dr Krakow and that carries weight w/me as well.
I'm at moderate (19)
Judy said:
Betty Didcoct said:
... There is a school of thought out there that RERAs are as harmful to your body as apneas and hypopneas and that CPAP/BiPAP treatment may not affect them very much in some people. I have often wondered if that could be a reason why some people don't improve much even when they are getting good treatment.

Dr Krakow, as I remember it, considers high RERAs as UARS and best treated w/bi-level as I vaguely remember it. A good search on his name, Dr Barry Krakow, will bring up his website. Dr Park seems to think highly of Dr Krakow and that carries weight w/me as well.

RERAs and UARS ? What would that be?
I have moderate sleep apnea. AHI 17/20. Melba
I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea at 17. However, the night was so sleepless it was difficult to get an accurate reading. The doctor thought it might be higher than that...putting it closer to the severe end of moderate. Hmmm. At best a guestimate.
50 per hour: few apneas, mostly hyponeas, 1 central.
Sleep Doc says it is classified as "moderate".
He says if it had been 51 I would be considered severe.
On CPAP - AHI was 1 (pretty good).
Barbara
A friend of mine has moderate sleep apnea. I think his AHI is around 16/17.
I have read in this thread that some AHI's are around 80 and higher. I am very shocked that they can be so high. I had no idea that something like that is possible. I am glad that my friends AHI is not so high.
UARS = upper airway resistance syndrome
RERA = respiratory effort related arousals
RDI = respiratory disturbance index

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