What Is PAP Titration?

PAP titration is how your care team finds the best air pressure setting for your CPAP or BiPAP machine. The right pressure stops your breathing pauses and still feels comfortable. It is done overnight in a sleep lab, or at home with an auto-CPAP.

What is PAP?

PAP stands for positive airway pressure. CPAP and BiPAP are PAP machines that push air through a mask to keep your airway open. Think of titration as "dialing in" your treatment. The goal is a pressure that stops your breathing problems without making you uncomfortable.

How does a titration study work?

For a titration study in a sleep lab, you wear a CPAP or BiPAP mask while you sleep. A sleep technologist (a trained staff member) watches your sleep from another room. The technologist starts at a low pressure and slowly raises it through the night.

They stop when your apneas, hypopneas and snoring are gone. Apneas are pauses in breathing. Hypopneas are times of very shallow breathing. The technologist watches:

• Breathing — Pauses and shallow breathing at each pressure level
• Oxygen — The oxygen level in your blood
• Snoring — How loud you snore
• Sleep — How well you sleep and what position you sleep in
• Mask fit — How your mask fits and whether air leaks out

What are the types of titration?

• Full-night CPAP titration — The whole night is used to find the right pressure.
• Split-night study — The first half of the night checks for sleep apnea. The second half finds the right pressure.
• BiPAP titration — The technologist adjusts two separate pressures: one for breathing in (IPAP) and one for breathing out (EPAP).
• Auto-titration — You use an auto-CPAP machine at home. It finds the best pressure on its own.

What happens after your titration?

Your sleep doctor will look at the results from your study. Then your doctor will prescribe the pressure that best controlled your sleep apnea. The prescription goes to the company that supplies your CPAP. They will set your machine to the right pressure.