What is the definition or description of: apnea-hypopnea index?

AHI: Apnea-hyponea index is a measure of sleep disruption due to some form of breathing problems. This data is from a sleep study typically performed in a sleep lab. In general an ahi of 15 means you have sleep apnea where you stop breathing for a given time period or you have very shallow breathing 15 times each hour. Instead of sleeping, you are waking up 15 times each hour in order to breathe again.

Decreased breathing: The apnea hypopnea index is defined as the number of times per hour that you stop breathing or decrease you breathing. The higher the number the worse your sleep apnea is. This number along with a few other factors is what determines necessary treatment. This can range from CPAP to surgerysleep.

AHI: Apnea hypopnea index is defined as the number of these events recorded in a psg test per hour of sleep. It is the standard by which a board certified sleep specialist uses in diagnosing the level of obstructive sleep apnea and makes recommendations of treating a particular condition.

AHI: This index number is used to determine the severity of a persons sleep disorder. The index is determined by adding total apneas and hypopneas and dividing by total hours slept. An apnea event is when breathing stops for more than 10 seconds, hypopnea is shallow breathing or abnormally slow rate.

Apnea Event Ratio: The apnea-hypopnea index, or ahi, is an ratio of the number of apnea (breath cessation) and hypopneas (slowed breathing that drops the oxygen content of the blood 4%) events that occur during a sleep study divided by the number of hours slept. It is an inaccurate, but useful gauge of sleep apnea severity. Most docs accept ahi is <5 is normal. 5-15 mild, 15-30 moderate; and >30 severe osa.