Apgar Score and Risk of Neonatal Death among Preterm Infants

Abstract

In this study, Apgar scores at 5 and 10 minutes provided prognostic information about neonatal survival among preterm infants across gestational-age strata. (Funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare and Karolinska Institutet.). Preterm birth (≤36 completed gestational weeks) is the leading cause of neonatal death, and the risk of neonatal death increases with the degree of preterm birth.1 However, other factors also influence the risk of neonatal death. In a systematic review of studiesinvolving very preterm infants (≤31 completed gestational weeks), the risk of death was lower among infants with a normal birth weight for gestational age, female infants, infants receiving glucocorticoids prenatally, and infants with higher 5-minute Apgar scores.2In the early 1950s, Dr. Virginia