The first test most babies are given — and which most pass with good scores — is the Apgar test. It was developed in 1952 by Dr. Virginia Apgar, who wanted a quick, simple way to check how newborns ...

In medicine, inertia can be a strangely powerful force, but Virginia Apgar never succumbed to it. She brought incredible energy to her work in anesthesia, neonatology, and dysmorphology (the study of ...

While you may not know who Dr Virginia Apgar is, she has touched the lives of almost every baby born today. Dr Virginia Apgar was an American obstetrical anesthetist and a leader in her field. She ...

The Apgar test grades infants in five areas, including skin tone. Babies of color score lower, and may be subjected to unnecessary treatment. By Roni Caryn Rabin Shortly after they’re born, infants ...

The Apgar score does not predict individual neonatal mortality or neurological outcomes, and thus should not be used for that purpose, according to a joint policy statement issued by the American ...

How important is Dr. Virginia Apgar to the modern practice of obstetrics? Here is the way the National Library of Medicine's website puts it: "[E]very baby born in a modern hospital anywhere in the ...

In his masterful book Better, surgeon Atul Gawande writes that in the 1950s, newborn babies in the United States faced great danger: "One in thirty still died at birth—odds that were scarcely better ...

An infant's scores on the so-called Apgar scale can predict the risk of a later diagnosis of cerebral palsy or epilepsy. The risk rises with decreasing Apgar score, but even slightly lowered scores ...