The contribution of low Apgar scores in identifying neonates with short-term morbidities in a large single center cohort

Samuel Huang; Miheret Yitayew; Henry J Rozycki

doi:10.1038/s41372-024-01944-0

The contribution of low Apgar scores in identifying neonates with short-term morbidities in a large single center cohort

J Perinatol. 2024 Jun;44(6):865-872. doi: 10.1038/s41372-024-01944-0. Epub 2024 Mar 28.

Authors

Samuel Huang¹, Miheret Yitayew^{1

2}, Henry J Rozycki^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Richmond, VA, USA.
² Division of Neonatal Medicine, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Richmond, VA, USA.
³ School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Richmond, VA, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Division of Neonatal Medicine, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Richmond, VA, USA. [email protected].

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association and utility of low 1- and 5-min Apgar scores to identify short-term morbidities in a large newborn cohort.

Methods: 15,542 infants >22 weeks gestation from a single center were included. Clinical data and low Apgar scores were analyzed for significance to ten short-term outcomes and were used to construct Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves and the AUC calculated for ten outcomes.

Results: A low Apgar score related to all (1-min) or most (5-min) outcomes by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Including any of the 4 low Apgar scores only improved the clinical factor AUC by 0.9% ± 2.7% (±SD) and was significant in just 5 of the 40 score/outcome scenarios.

Conclusion: The contribution of a low Apgar score for identifying risk of short-term morbidity does not appear to be clinically significant.

MeSH terms

Apgar Score*
Cohort Studies
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature
Logistic Models
Male
ROC Curve
Retrospective Studies