What's an APGAR Test?

We sometimes here that a baby had a low APGAR test and then upon reevaluation it was back up to "normal" but just what was being evaluated in the first place? Below is an explanation from HealthDay News.

Sharon
Infertility Answers, Inc.
http://infertilityanswers.org/

What's an APGAR Test?-- Diana Kohnle
(HealthDay News) -- As soon as your baby is delivered at a hospital or other medical facility, it's commonly whisked away to be evaluated by the waiting team of professionals.

The medical team probably is giving your baby what's known as an APGAR test to check how well baby handled birth, and how the infant is adjusting to life outside the womb. It's given at one minute after birth, and a second time five minutes after birth. The score ranges from 1 to 10, 10 being healthiest.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine says the test evaluates:

Breathing effort
Breathing: The process of respiration, during which air is inhaled into the lungs through the mouth or nose due to muscle contraction, and then exhaled due to muscle relaxation.

Heart rate
Heart rate: The number of heart beats per unit time, usually per minute. The heart rate is based on the number of contractions of the ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart). The heart rate may be too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia). The pulse is bulge of an artery from the wave of blood coursing through the blood vessel as a result of the heart beat. The pulse is often taken at the wrist to estimate the heart rate.

Muscle tone
Muscle: Muscle is the tissue of the body which primarily functions as a source of power. There are three types of muscle in the body. Muscle which is responsible for moving extremities and external areas of the body is called "skeletal muscle." Heart muscle is called "cardiac muscle." Muscle that is in the walls of arteries and bowel is called "smooth muscle."

Reflexes

Skin color
Skin color: The color of skin which is complexly determined. Skin color depends on many factors including reddening caused by inflammation, the hemoglobin level in the blood, and the darkening caused by increased deposition of the pigment melanin. Melanin itself is a polymer that comes in two types -- a red-yellow form known as pheomelanin and a black-brown form known as eumelanin.

The genetics of skin color are similarly complex. Skin color is clearly polygenic, determined by a number of genes. These genes include TYR (tyrosinase), MATP (membrane-associated transport protein) and P (the pink-eyed dilution protein). There may be 20 or so other genes that affect skin color.

A score of less than five indicates that baby needs help adjusting to the new environment.