Sleep Disorders Forum - ?understanding Sleep Study Results?

I do not understand my sleep study results. I was on cpap for a year and a half and I had gotten sooo sleepy during the day and the memory loss was driving my family and friends crazy. I had another sleep study done. The doctor called in a presription for a bipap machine even before I saw him for my results. The doctor told me that I have severe sleep apnea, and that he is surprised I am walking around! He stated that I had stopped breathing numerous times amounting from 10-45 seconds. He did explain the results...But I was so exhausted and zoning out and I did not ask him to explain the report all over again. I did however ask for a copy and thought that I would read it at home, no problem...But there was a problem. I don't understand what I am reading! Medical jargon? Please tell me what this all means and what the numbers mean compared to normal results.

Polysomnography report: during the initial half of the study the patient had a sleep efficiency of 87%. 11% of the total sleep time was spent in stage I sleep, and 77% stage ii sleep. The paitient has 214 obstructive events with 3 obstructive apnes, 1 mixed apnea, 1 central apnea, 209 hypopneas, for an index of 116.
Nadir sa02 with a respiratory event was 75%, seen during stage I sleep. Soft to loud snoring was noted. The ekg and the eeg channel from the polysomnogram were normal.

There were 357 periodic limb movements of sleep which caused 20 arrousals, resulting an index of 10. There were 23 unexplained arousals with total arousals of 216, and index of total arousals of 117. Alpha intrusion was not seen.

Cpap tritation study: the patient's awake sa02 on room air was 96%. Titration was begun at a continuous pressure of 12cm, and increased through 14, 16 cm, then switched to bilevel pressures of 18/16, 20/16, 22/16, and 24/18. At a pressure of 18/16, recorded for 38 minutes with 32 minutes spent in rem sleep, 6 minutes spent in non rem sleep, the patient had 3 hypopneas, resulting in an rdi of 5. Nadir sa02 at this setting of cpap was 92%. The patient also did well at a pressure of 20/16, which was recorded for 55 minutes with 6 minutes spent in rem sleep, and the patient had an rdi of 6.

Diagnosis: obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Summary and conclusions: this study demonstrated effective treatment of the patient's severe sleep apnea with bilevel pressures of 18/16 . The patient is to be fitted with a medium sized nasal mask with in-line humidification and ramp is to be set at 10 minutes.

The technician came to my home to demonstrate the bipap machine, which was exactly like the former cpap that I had. He said the ramp was set to 10, and the settings were 18/16.
So, what does the abrieviations mean? (sa02, rdi)?
214 obstructive events, as well as mixed apnea, central apnea, and 209 hypopneas? What does this translate to?
What are all the listed index numbers mean?
How do all these numbers compare to an acceptable report?
What contents of the report make me fall into a diagnosis of "severe" and
"obstructive sleep apnea syndrome."?
Why is this condition labeled a syndrome?
I would like help understanding the report, which was copied verbatim onto this post.

Thank you in advance! I cannot wait until there are answers/replies to read! Also, I got worse and needed the bipap machine. As I age does this condition worsen? (i am 41)
my parents are very concerned. I told them I will try to get information from the net. I think not knowing/understanding what the report means, people tend to think the worse of any given situation.

Hope to hear something soon.
Kanvas19