Association of Apgar Score at Five Minutes with Long-Term Neurologic Disability and Cognitive Function in a Prevalence Study of Danish Conscripts
Date
2009-4-2
Authors
Ehrenstein, Vera
Pedersen, Lars
Grijota, Miriam
Nielsen, Gunnar Lauge
Rothman, Kenneth J
Sørensen, Henrik Toft
Version
OA Version
Citation
Ehrenstein, Vera, Lars Pedersen, Miriam Grijota, Gunnar Lauge Nielsen, Kenneth J Rothman, Henrik Toft Sørensen. "Association of Apgar score at five minutes with long-term neurologic disability and cognitive function in a prevalence study of Danish conscripts" BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 9:14. (2009)
Abstract
BACKGROUND. Apgar score is used for rapid assessment of newborns. Low five-minute Apgar score has been associated with increased risk of severe neurologic outcome, but data on milder outcomes, particularly in the long term, are limited. We aimed to examine the association of five-minute Apgar score with prevalence of neurologic disability and with cognitive function in early adulthood. METHODS. We conducted a prevalence study among draft-liable men born in Denmark in 1978–1983 and presenting for the mandatory army evaluation in a northern Danish conscription district. We linked records of this evaluation, which includes medical exam and intelligence testing, with the conscripts' records in the Medical Birth Registry, containing perinatal data. We examined prevalence of neurologic disability and of low cognitive function according to five-minute Apgar score. RESULTS. Less than 1% (136/19,559) of the conscripts had 5-minute Apgar scores <7. Prevalence of neurologic disability was 2.2% (435/19,559) overall; among conscripts with Apgar scores <7, 7–9, and 10 (reference), it was 8.8%, 2.5%, and 2.2% respectively. The corresponding prevalences of low cognitive function (intelligence test score in the bottom quartile) were 34.9%, 27.2%, and 25.0%. The outcomes were more prevalent if Apgar score <7 was accompanied by certain fetal or obstetric adversities. After accounting for perinatal characteristics, 5-mintue Apgar score <7 was associated with prevalence ratios of 4.02 (95% confidence interval: 2.24; 7.24) for neurologic disability and 1.33 (0.94; 1.88) for low cognitive function. CONCLUSION. A five-minute Apgar score <7 has a consistent association with prevalence of neurologic disability and with low cognitive function in early adulthood.
Description
License
Copyright 2009 Ehrenstein et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.