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In 1952 the American anaesthetist Virginia Apgar devised the Apgar score, a quick way to rate a newborn's condition right after birth. Given at one and five minutes by checking colour, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone and breathing, it became standard in delivery rooms worldwide.

Virginia Apgar

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The story behind the card

Apgar trained as a surgeon at Columbia University in the 1930s, one of very few women to do so, but the head of surgery, Allen Whipple, steered her towards anaesthesia, then a young specialty. Working at births, she saw that no one systematically checked a newborn's condition. Her score rates each of five signs 0, 1 or 2, for a total of 0 to 10; most healthy babies score 7 or more, while a low score tells staff that a baby needs help at once. In 1962 colleagues turned her name into a memory aid: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration.

Türkçe oku
Amerikalı anestezi uzmanı Virginia Apgar, 1952'de yenidoğanın durumunu doğumdan hemen sonra ölçen Apgar skorunu geliştirdi. Bebeğin rengine, kalp atışına, reflekslerine, kas tonusuna ve solunumuna bakılarak doğumdan bir ve beş dakika sonra verilen bu puan, dünyanın her yerinde doğumhanelerde standart hâline geldi.

Apgar 1930'larda Columbia Üniversitesi'nde cerrahi eğitimi almıştı; bunu yapabilen çok az kadından biriydi. Ancak cerrahi bölüm başkanı Allen Whipple onu, o yıllarda yeni gelişen anestezi alanına yönlendirdi. Doğumlarda çalışırken yeni doğan bebeğin durumunu düzenli olarak değerlendiren kimse olmadığını gördü. Geliştirdiği puanlamada beş bulgunun her birine 0, 1 ya da 2 puan verilir ve toplam 0 ile 10 arasındadır. Sağlıklı bebeklerin çoğu 7 ve üzeri alır; düşük puan, bebeğin hemen yardıma ihtiyacı olduğunu gösterir. 1962'de meslektaşları onun adını akılda kalıcı bir kısaltmaya dönüştürdü: Appearance (görünüm), Pulse (nabız), Grimace (yüz buruşturma, yani refleks), Activity (hareket, yani kas tonusu), Respiration (solunum).

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Apgar score
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