I got my preliminary results from my study and I am scared. I am not seeing my doctor till next week so I am not sure if I should try to get in sooner. He is not in his office today so I need some help with theses results. No apnea but Hypopnea. My RDI was 52.2, mean duration 22.7, longest duration 31.7.   Resp arousals>15 seconds was 89.  I could not sleep  so I had no stage 3 or 4 sleep.  My oxygen levels were Mean-96.7 and min 92.0  They say I have mod severe osa and recommend CPAP of 6 cm with H20, is H20 just compressed air??? Any help would be so appreciated

Hi lulu,

I had a similar situation to you, and have often discussed "hypopnea only" apnea, which I think is somewhat distinct...

No surprise you could not sleep with 89 arousals!  And similarly no surprise that you had no 3 or 4 - sounds like a case of sleep disordered breathing... CPAP will help you!  No need for panic though, you do not have severe desats of the variety that would cause you to die in your sleep.   I imagine you must be very sleepy, like I was.

cmH20 is their way of measuring (air) pressure.  You might remember that air pressure is often measured in inches of mercury (historically in a barometer)...  this is similar to that, except with centimeters and water instead of inches and mercury.  It's saying the pressure in the mask should be the same pressure as being under 6 centimeters of water(H20).  This is not a high pressure as these things go, and you should not have too much trouble with it... mine is 13!