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During the 1930s and '40s, Dr. Virginia Apgar noticed a troubling trend involving newborns.
While the infant mortality rate in the US had declined, the rate of infant deaths within the first 24 hours after birth remained constant. As an obstetric anesthesiologist, Apgar was able to identify physical characteristics that could distinguish healthy newborns from those in trouble.
Apgar's observations led to the development in 1952 of the Apgar score, a quick and convenient method for immediately evaluating how well the newborn weathered the birthing process, especially the effects of obstetric anesthesia.
To honor Apgar's contribution to neonatology -- the medical care of newborn infants -- Google dedicated its Doodle Thursday to the doctor on her 109th birthday.
Generally conducted one and five minutes after birth, the test assigns a score of zero to two for each of five criteria: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration (APGAR). Scores of seven and higher are generally normal, four to six fairly low, and three and lower are generally regarded as critically low. The test helps medical personnel determine whether a newborn needs immediate medical care.
The test spread through US hospitals in the 1960s, proving a useful measurement for quickly assessing a newborn's physical condition. The technique is still used in hospitals throughout the US.
Apgar graduated fourth in her class at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933, and in 1949 became the first woman named a full professor at the school.
In 1959, she embarked on a second career, earning a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Armed with her new degree, she went to work at the March of Dimes Foundation, directing research to prevent and treat birth defects.
She also published more than 60 scientific articles and several essays for newspapers and magazines during her career. Her 1972 book Is My Baby All Right? explains the causes and treatment of common birth defects and proposes precautions to help improve the chances of having a healthy baby.
Apgar died at the age of 65 in 1974.
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Thursday’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of Dr. Virginia Apgar, whose Apgar Score has saved countless lives. She was born on June 7, 1909.
Dr. Virginia Apgar, who would have been 109 years old today (she died in 1974), was the obstetric anesthetist who developed the Apgar Score test for the health of newborn babies that is still used around the world today.
The Apgar Score’s name is not just that of its creator — each letter refers to a part of the test.
The Apgar test examines:
Appearance (is the newborn a healthy color or blueish?)
Pulse (is it above or below 100 beats per minute, or undetectable?)
Grimace (what response does the baby make when reflexes are stimulated?)
Activity (how much are legs and arms moving?)
Respiration (how strong is the baby’s breathing?)
JAN 26 1962, 3-13-1962; L to R: James P. Eakins and Virginia Apgar; (Photo By Bill Peters/The Denver Post via Getty Images) Bill Peters Denver Post via Getty Images
The Apgar Score is what’s known as a “backronym” — the words were only chosen after the Dr. Apgar‘s test had gone into practice in 1952, in order to help people remember the elements of the test.
COOL: This morning's @GoogleDoodles honors Virginia Apgar (MPH '59) on what would have been her 109th birthday. As a researcher and maternal and child health advocate, Dr. Apgar developed the 10-point "Apgar Score" used to assess the health of newborns. https://t.co/7OV7sxNT4a pic.twitter.com/YfVMhzsrL1 — JHU Public Health (@JohnsHopkinsSPH) June 7, 2018
Each of these categories in Dr. Apgar’s test earns the baby between zero and two points, depending on the health of the response. The theoretical maximum is 10, but this is rare. An Apgar Score between 4 and 6 may mean some medical intervention is needed. An Apgar Score below four may mean resuscitation is needed. The Apgar test is conducted a minute after birth, and again four minutes later, in order to judge the effectiveness of intervention.
Dr. Apgar developed the test after noticing that, even though the general U.S. infant mortality rate fell between the 1930s and 1950s, it remained constant for babies within the first day of life.
Who was Dr. Virginia Apgar? She developed the Apgar Score, the first standardized method to monitor a baby's health after being born. 👶 Today, the Apgar Score is used throughout the world, and has saved countless lives. https://t.co/UaE1I3eCAf pic.twitter.com/M2LZO9fXuv — HHS.gov (@HHSGov) June 7, 2018
Apart from developing her famous scoring exercise, Dr. Apgar was a notable advocate for universal vaccination in order to combat the rubella epidemic of the mid-Sixties. In her later years, she worked for March of Dimes, a non-profit founded by President Franklin Roosevelt that initially targeted polio but went on to focus on the prevention of birth defects.
Even before she developed the Apgar Score, Dr. Apgar had already become the first female full professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in 1959, and was a director at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which is know known as the March of Dimes.
Google is celebrating Dr. Virginia Apgar, a groundbreaking figure in the field of anesthesiology known for inventing a scoring system that is credited with saving countless newborn babies’ lives, with its new Google Doodle.
Born in 1909 in New Jersey, she is best known for inventing the Apgar Score, the first standardized way to test a newborn baby’s health in the first few minutes after the baby is born. Babies are assessed under five factors: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration. The first letter of each factor spells out Apgar’s name.
While Apgar died in 1974, the Google Doodle celebrates what would have been Apgar’s 109th birthday and features a cartoon of her conducting her namesake test, which was invented the test in 1952.
Aside from the Apgar Score, she also accomplished numerous feats throughout her career. Apgar was the first woman to become a full professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. But her path to success was filled with numerous obstacles. Although she was determined to become a surgeon, Apgar was discouraged from the pursuit by Dr. Alan Whipple, who was the chair of surgery at Columbia. Whipple maintained that the other women he had trained had failed to establish successful careers in surgery.
But Whipple also recognized that Apgar’s skill could further the field of anesthesia, and she spent a year training in it after completing her surgical residency in 1937. Ahead of her time, Apgar had trouble finding people to work for her until anesthesia became a more acknowledged specialty in the 1940s, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Later, Apgar’s studies of obstetrical anesthesia led to her creating the Apgar score. After some initial resistance, the testing method became widely used throughout the world and is still used today.
