If you've been prescribed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)therapy to treat obstructive sleep apnea, your prescribed CPAP setting is related to several factors—the severity of your sleep apnea, as well as the anatomy of your throat muscles, your sleep position, and the timing of your sleep stages throughout the night.
This article explains the key factors that your sleep physician uses to determine the correct setting, as well as how the device can automatically adjust the settings based on your needs.
Sleep Apnea Severity
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is diagnosed with an overnight sleep study or home sleep apnea testthat assesses the number of times per hour the upperairway collapses, resulting in a drop in blood oxygen levels or awakenings from sleep.
If the airway completely collapses, it's called apnea. If it partially collapses, it's called hypopnea. The total number of these events per hour of sleep is known as the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).
You might think that severe OSA requires a higher CPAP pressuresetting to treat it. In actuality, this is not always the case as there are multiple factors involved in determining the required setting. Typically, the treatment starts at a low setting and is gradually increased to resolve all apnea and hypopnea events, as well as snoring.
Learn AHI Ratings
TheAHI values and corresponding ratings are:
- Less than 5 (<5): Normal, meaning no sleep apnea
- 5 to 15: Mild sleep apnea
- 15 to 30: Moderate sleep apnea
- More than 30 (>30): Severe sleep apnea
Determining Required CPAP Pressure
The lowest setting on CPAP machines may be 4 to 5 centimeters of water pressure (abbreviated as cm of H2O or CWP). Most people require more pressure than this low setting. The maximum setting varies with the type of machine, but it could be as high as 25 or 30 CWP. The average setting often lies between these two extremes. Levels above 15-20 CWP may require a change to bilevel therapy, (BPAP).
If the CPAP setting is determined as part of an overnight titration study in a sleep lab, a polysomnographytechnologist will observe your breathing patterns and adjust the setting upwards while you sleep. This is done remotely from another room so that you are not disturbed.
The goal is to eliminate snoring, sleep apnea, and hypopnea episodes, and for deep sleep, includingrapid eye movement (REM) sleep, to be observed in your sleep study. This setting should also be optimized while sleeping supine (on your back) when sleep apnea often worsens.
Self Adjusting Machines
Some people are sent home with a self-adjusting CPAP machine, sometimes called AutoCPAP or APAP. With this, the prescribing physician recommends a range of pressures. The machine will start low and adjust upwards as needed in response to measured airwayresistance. Airway resistance suggests persistent collapses of the soft tissues, like the base of the tongue or soft palateinto the throat.
The CPAP delivers intermittent pulses of extra air pressure to evaluate for resistance, which indicates that the upper airway is collapsing. If the airway stays open at the CPAP setting delivered, the setting is maintained.
People with more severe sleep apnea might need higher pressure on CPAP or BPAP, which offers varying degrees of pressure. Children may require similar pressure levels to adults, despite their smaller overall size and the smaller dimension of their airways.
Settings Can Defy Assumptions
The required CPAP pressure does not always directly correlate with the severity of sleep apnea. Some people with mild OSA need high pressures and some people with severe OSA need relatively modest pressure.
Factors That Affect the Pressure Setting
The anatomy of the upper airway and the nature of the airway obstruction play the biggest role in determining the required CPAP pressure setting. Factors that affect the pressure setting include:
- Allergies that block the nasal passages. Keep in mind that a pressure setting of 12 cmH2O or higher may cause inflammation of the nasal passages, and using a humidifier may help.
- Significant changes in weight
- A deviated septum (off-center nasal passage)
- Collapsing soft palate
- A small lower jaw
- A large tongue or tonsils
- A tongue that falls back into the airway
- A neck circumference greater than 17 inches
- Sleeping on your back
- Alcohol use that relaxes airway muscles
- Certain medications, such as benzodiazepines
- Sleep cycles (REM sleep toward morning may relax muscles)
In addition, being overweight or obese may influence the settings. In fact, when people lose about 10% of their body weight, it may be necessary to adjust the CPAP settings by turning them down.
Anatomy Influences Settings
The biggest influences on CPAP settings are the anatomy of the upper airway and the nature of the airway obstruction.
Complications of Incorrect Settings
Given these factors, it's not always easy to determine how much CPAP pressure you may need to treat your sleep apnea. It may also vary somewhat during the night, depending on your sleep position and sleep stage.
- If the pressure is too low, you may experience five or more sleep apnea events and other symptoms, like snoring or waking up while gasping for air.
- If the pressure is too high, you may experience side effects like air swallowing and fitful, interrupted sleep.
So while it should help you to understand the science behind CPAP settings, the final decision should be made by an expert.
Remember the Mask
A CPAP mask can deliver air through the nose or the mouth. The choice of which type of mask to use is up to you (whether you're a nose breather or a mouth breather), but the mask must fit well. There are no differences in efficacy among the different mask types. The best mask is the one you find comfortable and will wear regularly.
Summary
Multiple factors are involved in determining the best CPAP setting. The most important is the anatomy of the upper airway and the nature of the airway obstruction. In the end, the pressure settings should be determined by a board-certified sleep physician.
Getting treated for obstructive sleep apnea can greatly improve your quality of life by increasing the amount of restful sleep you get each night. This will result in less daytime sleepiness and reduced risk of health complications associated with obstructive sleep apnea.
It can take some time to get a diagnosis and to find the right settings, but most people feel that the effort pays off substantially.
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Understanding the results.
Sleep Foundation. CPAP pressure settings.
Al-Otaibi HM, Alahmari MD, Al-Maqati TN, Ghazwani A. Effect of humidified versus nonhumidified CPAP on inflammatory response and nasopharyngeal symptoms in healthy participants. Can J Respir Ther. 2020 Jul 23;56:21-24. doi:10.29390/cjrt-2020-005
Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Understanding PAP.
By Brandon Peters, MD
Dr. Peters is a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
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