APGAR SCORE
The Apgar score was devised in 1952 by Virginia Apgar as a simple and repeatable method to quickly and summarily assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth.
It is used to assess the condition of a newborn immediately after birth, i.e. 1 minute after birth and 5 minutes after birth. The condition of a newborn is assessed on basis of 5 factors, namely heart rate, muscle tone, reflex irritability, breathing effort, and color. Each of these factors is rated from 0 to 2, where 0 is lowest and 2 is highest score, thus making a total score of 10.
Apgar score is reported in Arabic numerals, with the “A” of Apgar in upper case.
For example: The infant's Apgar Score was 5 at 1 minute and 7 at 5 minutes.
The five criteria of the Apgar score:
| Score 0 | Score 1 | Score 2 | Acronym |
Skin color | blue all over | blue at extremities | normal | Appearance |
Heart rate | absent | <100 | >100 | Pulse |
Reflex irritability | no response
to stimulation | grimace/feeble cry
when stimulated | sneeze/cough/pulls away
when stimulated | Grimace |
Muscle tone | none | some flexion | active movement | Activity |
Respiration | absent | weak or irregular | strong | Respiration |