[sithadmin]

'At home' diagnostic devices for sleep apnea are pretty good at identifying apneic events via various approaches to respiratory and cardiovascular monitoring. What they're not able to do is discern between obstructive and central apneas. In practice, this probably doesn't matter a lot for most, and direct providers that rely on at home testing generally lead with prescribing an APAP (auto-adjusting CPAP) with good results instead first of doing another sleep study like a traditional doctor might require.

Once you use an APAP, you actually are able to discern between apnea types with some degree of confidence if you dump the diagnostic data and use a tool like OSCAR to analyze it.

[kareemm]

Why does it matter if you know whether you’re experiencing central or obstructive apneas? Does the treatment differ?

[sithadmin]

Central apnea is sometimes a symptom of a more serious underlying neurological issue, so it can be important to follow up with a physician to assess other risk symptoms and risk factors.

As for treatment - yes. BiPAP, ASV and nerve stimulation are all more effective for central apnea than CPAP or APAP.

[z3ugma]

Very much! The treatments are completely different.

Obstructive apneas are caused by an anatomical problem - your upper airway is blocked by relaxed tissues.

Central apneas are caused by a neurological problem - your brain doesn’t communicate the signal to inhale to your diaphragm.