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The Apgar score in questions
What is the Apgar score?
The Apgar score allows us toassess the state of health of a newborn enjoying his clinical condition and his adaptation to ectopic life. This score varies from 0 to 10, 10 signifying that all the criteria of the score are strictly normal.
The Apgar score is calculated based on five criteria: the cardiac frequency breathing, the Muscle tone proactivity and newborn coloring. A score of 0 to 2 points is assigned to each of these criteria according to their intensity. The score is calculated at 1, 3, then 5 minutes after birth. It can also be measured at 10 minutes.
Did you know ? The Apgar score was developed in 1952 by Virginia Apgar, an American anesthesiologist. The test became widespread in the United States and then throughout Western medicine. The name of the anesthesiologist subsequently became a mnemonic acronym in reference to the five criteria: Appearance (coloring), Pulse (heart rate), Grimace (responsiveness), Activity (muscle tone) and Breathing. |
How to interpret the Apgar score?
During the first minutes of life, the newborn begins to breathe and a different blood circulation pattern from that which existed before birth takes place. It may take several minutes. The Apgar scores at 1 and 3 minutes are therefore unreliable. On the other hand, the doctors will be particularly attentive to the evolution of the score at 5 minutes: between 7 and 10, it is considered that the child adapts normally and does not require any particular intervention. Below 7, more attention is paid to it. If necessary, his airways will be cleared and he will receive oxygen through a mask. Below 4, more intensive resuscitation maneuvers may possibly be carried out.
Is the Apgar score an index of the future development of the child?
No. It is only a question of evaluating its adaptation to the outside world in the first minutes after childbirth. A child with a good Apgar score may very well develop complications within hours. Conversely, a child with an unfavorable Apgar score can then present a very good evolution. Besides, this score has no long-term value. It does not in any way predict the child’s future physical and intellectual capacities.
Is the Apgar score still reliable?
More than fifty years after its invention, the Apgar test is always performed routinely at birth and its reliability is not questioned. Its simplicity and the absence of special equipment are its major assets. However, it remains an imperfect indicator of health status at birth and may be supplemented by other tests depending on the situation, such as examining blood gases from the umbilical cord.