Apgar Score: Rapid Newborn Assessment
The Apgar score rates a newborn's condition in the first minutes after birth. Clinicians score five signs at one and five minutes to decide whether resuscitation is working.
Apgar Score
The Apgar score is a five item observational assessment of a newborn's condition, scored at one and five minutes after birth. It grades appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration from zero to two each, giving a total out of ten. It is a measure of response to the transition to extrauterine life and to resuscitation, not a prediction of long term outcome.
Category
Disease
Source
What is the Apgar Score
The Apgar score is a rapid, structured observation of a newborn made at one and five minutes after birth, and repeated every five minutes while the score stays below seven. Five signs are each rated zero, one or two: appearance (skin colour), pulse (heart rate), grimace (reflex irritability), activity (muscle tone) and respiration (breathing effort). The five ratings are added for a total from zero to ten.
Virginia Apgar introduced it in 1953 to give delivery rooms a common language for describing how a baby was doing, and to make the effect of anaesthetic and resuscitation practice visible. It remains one of the most widely recorded observations in medicine. Its purpose is narrow and worth stating plainly: it describes the infant's condition at that moment and the response to resuscitation. It was never designed to predict neurological outcome, and a single low one minute score does not do so.
Each of the five signs scores zero, one or two, for a total out of ten. Seven to ten is generally considered reassuring, four to six intermediate, and three or below requires immediate resuscitation. The five minute score carries more weight than the one minute score, and scores are recorded every five minutes until the total reaches seven.
Two cautions matter in practice. Preterm infants score lower on tone and reflex irritability for reasons of maturity rather than distress, so the score cannot be read the same way across gestational ages. And a score assigned during active resuscitation describes a baby receiving support, which is a different observation from a spontaneous score.
Advantages
.svg){kind=icon}
Identifies health issues during initial stages.
.svg){kind=icon}
Maintains uniform healthcare delivery standards.
.svg){kind=icon}
Promotes active participation in healthcare assessment.
.svg){kind=icon}
Quick completion with minimal burden.
.png){kind=icon}
Related Instruments
Digital counterpart
Digital biomarkers that measure the same thing with sensors rather than a questionnaire.
Collect Apgar Score data with WeGuide, the all in one patient engagement platform
.jpg)
Support Your patient in no time - all under your own brand
Our platform combines the knowledge of 100+ digital health solutions built, letting you easily build your patient engagement app for research or clinical use. Collect PROMs, support patients on waiting lists, or gather vital signs data. This is how:
Learn More.png){kind=icon}
Program Builder
.png)
.png){kind=icon}
Whitelabelling
.svg)
.svg)
.png){kind=icon}
Turn on components, dependent on your usecase
.svg)
.png){kind=icon}
Support The Full Journey
.png)
.png)
%20(1).png)
.png)
It’s your turn
Every WeGuide project, saves researchers and clinicians - 9 months and $450,000 - creating impactful digital health solutions.
