Question

When assessing the 1-minute Apgar score, you note that the newborn's hands and feet are cyanotic; she has weak muscle tone, a strong cry, a heart rate of approximately 120 beats/min, and irregular respirations of approximately 40 breaths/min. What is this infant's Apgar score?

Answer 1

Answer:

The infant's APGAR score is 7.

Explanation:

APGAR is a test doctors use to evaluate the newborn as soon as he/she is born and after 5 minutes. It is important to know that the score should be 7 or above in order to consider the newborn as healthy; otherwise immediate medical attention is required.

APGAR refers to:

• Appearance: the skin color, wether pink or cyanotic (blue).
• Pulse: the infant's BPM (beats per minute).
• Grimace: response to stimulation (crying).
• Activity: muscle tone, such as flexing or floppy.
• Respiration: breathing, wether strong or irregular.

The scoring system is 0, 1 or 2 for each category which are then added to give the final score.

Let's see the sum of the infant's 1-minute APGAR score:

• A: her hands and feet are cyanotic but she's not pale overall. Score: 1.
• P: she has a 120 BPM; higher that 100 receives a score of 2.
• G: strong cry. Score: 2.
• A: weak muscle tone. Score: 1.
• R: irregular respiration (40 breaths per minute). Score: 1.

Overall, the infant's score is a 7 and she seems to be healthy and given that it has been the 1- minute score, it can be deduced that the next APGAR score will be above 7 since it still needs to warm up.