Apgar score in babies

What does Apgar score in infants examine and when it is done?

In its classic form, Apgar score examines the combination of the following 5 components:
Infant’s heart rate – 2 points for a rhythm over 100 beats per minute, 1 point for less than 100 beats a minute and no score for absent heartbeat.
Infant’s breathing effort – 2 points for a newborn who’s breathing and crying normally, 1 point for a newborn with irregular breathing or that has difficulty in breathing and no score for a newborn who doesn’t breathe.
Muscle tension – 2 points for an active moving newborn, 1 point for a newborn that only bends it’s limbs and no score for a newborn that does not move.
Reaction to stimulation – Usually done by a suction tube at the tip of the nose or a light rub. 2 points for a newborn that cries, coughs or sneezes as a reaction to the stimuli, 1 point for a newborn that only twists his face and no score for a newborn who does not react.
Skin color – 2 points for a pinkish baby, 1 point for a newborn with pinkish colored body and blue limbs and no score for a blue or pale newborn.
Apgar score test is done for every newborn one minute after birth and then 5 minutes after birth. In case the 5 minute Apgar score is less than 7, another Apgar test can be performed every 5 minutes for additional 20 minutes.

What is the minimum and maximum postpartum Apgar score? What is a proper score?

By definition, even after a minute postpartum the extremities of the newborn’s are blue. Therefore, the maximum one minute Apgar score is 9. The minimum of course is 0. After 5 minutes the maximum Apgar score is 10 and the minimum is 0.
Just to let you know, I tried to put an 1 minute Apgar score of 10 to my middle child. The computer in the delivery room did not allow that.
In general, a proper one minute postpartum Apgar score is 7 and over.

What is the meaning of Apgar score?

Apgar score allows the medical team to make decisions after the birth. A newborn that have trouble breathing with a low heart rate could be treated by the midwife or the pediatrician by stimulation or heating in the delivery room.
On the other hand, when a newborn gets a normal Apgar score, he/she can be laid on the mother directly after the birth.
A very low Apgar score indicates a newborn in distress who should receive intensive treatment in the delivery room.

What does Apgar score not predict?

Apgar score does not necessarily predict any long-term outcomes of the newborn’s future.
Of course that a newborn that required prolonged resuscitation after birth and was hospitalized in neonatal ward for an extended period (and of course has a low score) could be at risk of future problems but this has nothing to do directly with Apgar score.
Remember that normal Apgar score is a good start to the baby’s arrival into the world. However, a low Apgar score does not necessarily mean the opposite.