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Dr. Shapiro completed his undergraduate education at UC San Diego, earning a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and a B.A. in Political Science. He furthered his education at UCLA where he earned a Masters Degree in Public…
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Can Apgar Scores Predict Your Child's Academic Development?
Posted in Parenting Toddl... by Dr. Jeremy F. Shapiro on Aug 04, 2011
Apgar scores, determined right after delivery, have long been used to assess whether a newborn needs any immediate cardiopulmonary assistance. Specifically, it looks at the infant’s heart rate, muscle tone, skin color, reflex irritability (AKA grimace response), and breathing; where each area is given a score from 0 to 2 with a total of 10 being the highest point value a newborn can obtain. The assessment is performed at 1 minute and 5 minutes of life with the general rule of thumb that an 8 or higher is reassuring that things are going well in those very early moments of life.
And for years, parents have asked me whether this score indicates anything further about their child’s academic potential later in life. “Does a 10 mean my child will get into Harvard 18 years from now?” And while I’d love to remain as optimistic as possible, no clear-cut research has connected these Apgar scores with later academic potential… at least not yet.
But a recently published study in this month’s journal Obstetrics & Gynecology looks at lower Apgar scores (<7) in a very large population of Swedish children and compares school grades and graduation rates with Apgar scores performed right after birth. The results do show lower Apgar scores are correlated with later deficits in cognitive ability.
Specifically, when a child had an Apgar less than 7, there was a doubling of the odds of needing to attend a special school because of the cognitive deficits. But before everyone starts sorting through their child’s medical folder searching for Apgar scores, most infants with a score of 7 or less do just fine as the study also found only 1 of 44 babies with lower scores needed special education.
And my take? I found this study not necessarily surprising but certainly interesting and needing closer examination to determine why this might be the case. In particular, what are the reasons leading to the lower Apgar scores? Because if we clarify those and try to prevent their occurrence, then this study will have served a purpose.
- Dr. Jeremy
And for years, parents have asked me whether this score indicates anything further about their child’s academic potential later in life. “Does a 10 mean my child will get into Harvard 18 years from now?” And while I’d love to remain as optimistic as possible, no clear-cut research has connected these Apgar scores with later academic potential… at least not yet.
But a recently published study in this month’s journal Obstetrics & Gynecology looks at lower Apgar scores (<7) in a very large population of Swedish children and compares school grades and graduation rates with Apgar scores performed right after birth. The results do show lower Apgar scores are correlated with later deficits in cognitive ability.
Specifically, when a child had an Apgar less than 7, there was a doubling of the odds of needing to attend a special school because of the cognitive deficits. But before everyone starts sorting through their child’s medical folder searching for Apgar scores, most infants with a score of 7 or less do just fine as the study also found only 1 of 44 babies with lower scores needed special education.
And my take? I found this study not necessarily surprising but certainly interesting and needing closer examination to determine why this might be the case. In particular, what are the reasons leading to the lower Apgar scores? Because if we clarify those and try to prevent their occurrence, then this study will have served a purpose.
- Dr. Jeremy
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was a nine (9). However, when Danny was 4yo in 1994, he was diagnosed with a few disorders, until the dr. decided Dan had Asperger's Syndrome. I'm sure many people have heard about that by now, and honestly I think it's thrown around much too easily. Anyway my son didn't do well in school. I signed him out after 11 years of pure hell, so he could go and get his GED. I don't think the APGAR score can and should be compared to any other tests. They are all very different.
However it works out, I still think (know) my kids are brilliant!