Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques, and Equipment

Apgar Score

A method, developed by Dr. Virginia Apgar, to evaluate a newborn's adjustment to extrauterine life. Five items - heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color - are evaluated 60 seconds after birth and again five minutes later on a scale from 0-2, 0 being the lowest, 2 being normal. The five numbers are added for the Apgar score. A score of 0-3 represents severe distress, 4-7 indicates moderate distress, and a score of 7-10 predicts an absence of difficulty in adjusting to extrauterine life.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

A method, developed by Dr. Virginia Apgar, to evaluate a newborn's adjustment to extrauterine life. Five items - heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color - are evaluated 60 seconds after birth and again five minutes later on a scale from 0-2, 0 being the lowest, 2 being normal. The five numbers are added for the Apgar score. A score of 0-3 represents severe distress, 4-7 indicates moderate distress, and a score of 7-10 predicts an absence of difficulty in adjusting to extrauterine life.

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MeSH Record

Synonyms

1 entry terms
  • Score, Apgar

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

check the tags HUMANS & INFANT, NEWBORN

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History Note

73(71)

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Previous Indexing

  • Infant, Newborn (1966-1970)
  • Physical Examination (1966-1970)

MeSH Hierarchy

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MeSH Record

NLM Classification

WS 420

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Apgar Score. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D001034. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D001034
  2. Apgar Score. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apgar_score
  3. Apgar Score. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q210797