Apgar index: A statistical tool

Abstract

Twenty-seven years has elapsed since Virginia Apgar proposed a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant. The proposal gained rapid and almost universal acceptance and has stood the test of time. Considered at first to be both a guide for resuscitation and a statistical tool, the latter is now its main use. Although the original score was applied at 1 minute of age, both a 1-minute scoring and a 5-minute scoring are now the general custom. There is, however, no general consensus as to which is the better indicator of outcome. Use of both as separate entities is cumbersome. A method which with a single number gives weight to both the 1-minute score and the 5-minute score and also to the relative change is described. An analysis of selected variables with the use of this index is presented.