A recent study indicates that a low Apgar score at birth could indicate that a baby may have a cerebral palsy birth injury that may not be diagnosed until later in childhood. Researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that there is a strong link between a low score on the Apgar test and a later diagnosis of cerebral palsy for the child.
The Apgar test is a simple scoring of a baby’s vitality taken minutes after birth. Cerebral palsy is caused by some sort of injury to an infant’s brain that occurs before, during or shortly after birth. If an infant’s brain is deprived of oxygen it can cause irreversible damage including loss of motor function, developmental problems and other lifelong disabilities associated with Cerebral Palsy.
There are different types and conditions associated with cerebral palsy, low Apgar scores have been associated with all types of spastic cerebral palsy but are linked most strongly to spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy which affect the function of arms and legs.
While many babies who have low Apgar scores at birth recover and develop well it is important to use the Apgar score to assist with future diagnosis as well as an indicator to monitor the child for signs of brain damage. In some cases it is possible that a medical mistake may be responsible for occurrences of cerebral palsy. In cases when a preventable error causes an infant’s brain to be deprived of oxygen for an extended time there is often medical malpractice suits filed. This happens when the cause of the disability could have been prevented by exercising proper standards of medical care.
