The sum of the scores in each category will be the total Apgar score. A score of 10 would mean that a newborn is perfectly healthy. A low score of three or less would indicated that doctors and nurses need be on alert. A low score does not mean necessarily that there is an immediate problem, but the potential is there and the baby should be closely monitored.
How Is Apgar Testing Done?
The baby is evaluated immediately after birth, usually 5 minutes after birth. However, if the initial Apgar score is low, the test may be repeated at 10-, 15-, and 20-minute intervals to assess any improvement.
What Does The Apgar Score Tell Your Doctor?
Apgar scores of 0-3 are critically low and, in which case, the baby may need immediate medical intervention.
Apgar scores of 4-6 are below normal, implying that the infant likely requires medical intervention.
The aim is to get an Apgar score of 7 or higher, which implies that the baby is normal.
Although a high Apgar score may keep parents at ease, it does not rule out the possibility of a brain injury such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The medical team must be quick to recognize other signs and symptoms of brain damage and treat them accordingly.
Another issue with this test is that some components of the Apgar score are subjective. As such, there may be cases where a baby requires urgent medical attention despite having a high Apgar score.
On the other hand, a low Apgar score does not automatically mean that the baby will have long-term health issues. However, there is strong evidence that infants with a low Apgar score at five minutes or later are highly likely to suffer long-term neurological damage.
In a 2018 study by Swedish professor Martina Persson, they found that babies with lower Apgar scores at five and 10 minutes were at higher risk for developing cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Three years earlier, Kari Kveim Lie of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health published a study revealing a significant increase in the risk of cerebral palsy in infants with low Apgar scores at the five-minute mark – despite having a normal birth weight.
Pregnancy and Apgar Scores
Complications during pregnancy and delivery may cause oxygen deprivation to the baby and lead to low Apgar test scores. These issues include: