Low Apgars - long-term effects?

[Bokonon]

My 32-weeker's Apgars were 1 and 8. He spent 6 weeks in the NICU, and has been very healthy ever since. He had significant gross motor delays, which were thought to have been caused by my preeclampsia more so than his prematurity.

He's almost 5, and a very bright kid, but now that he's almost in kindergarten, I wonder if the fact that he may have had some oxygen deprivation at birth affected/will affect his brain somehow. I'm not exactly worried at the moment.

So if you have an older preemie with a low first Apgar, have they experienced any delays or learning disabilities? TIA for sharing any stories!

[KCMichigan]

I have twin 32 weekers. They are 4.5 right now.

DD1 apgars 7 & 9-- some delays under age 2, totally caught up by age 3
DD2 apgars 5 & 7 -- gross motor delays, very mild CP, gets therapy (OT/PT) through the schools


They were in the NICU 4 & 5 weeks

Both are academically bright with no apparent learning delays--but DD2 struggles with very mild CP, PDD_NOS, and some sensory issues. Both have asthma and allergies.

[BookGoddess]

My DD was born at 37 weeks so technically she's not a preemie although she was in the NICU for a few days. Her Agpar scores were low. She's academically bright, maybe even ahead of some of her preschool classmates, however she has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS.

[sparklett]

DS' (33 weeks and IUGR, 3 wks in the NICU) apgars were 2/8. He's almost 3yrs. now and is far ahead of his peers in many things. Our local speech pathologist believes that he could go into kindergarten now and do just fine. The only things we've ever noticed is some coordination delays but even those always work themselves out.

I read this about Apgars:
"If the Apgar score remains below 3 at later times such as 10, 15, or 30 minutes, there is a risk that the child will suffer longer-term neurological damage. There is also a small but significant increase of the risk of cerebral palsy. However, the purpose of the Apgar test is to determine quickly whether a newborn needs immediate medical care; it was not designed to make long-term predictions on a child's health."

[moongazer]

My twins weren't early, but they did have low first APGARs. Ds was 1 and dd was 3. They are 12 now, and both are completely normal. In fact ds did not score below a 97% in any of the standardized achievement tests the school gave him this year. Dd's scores were average. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
HTH

[loveneverfails]

My daughter who was not in NICU had a 1 minute Apgar of 0 and a 5 minute of 8. She was not premature, but she is perfectly fine. With the 5 minute being that good, I wouldn't be as concerned with the initial very low 1 minute score.

[happyblessedmama]

My DD was not a preemie but her apgars were 2 and 8. Born not breathing, full resuscitation, etc.

She is 5 now, and i don't see any effects from it. She is not as academically inclined as her brothers were at her age, but that could just be her. I do wonder sometimes if there isn't a tiny bit of it playing into it, but really, because she's not reading at 5 is not something I'm willing to freak out over.

Her physical development/coordination is 100% normal. She's a very happy, verbal and sweet kiddo.

[momshelper]

Hi My daughter was born at 29 weeks due to severe pre-eclampsia and had apgars of 2 and 6, she was ventilated for two weeks and had a lung collapse. She spent 9 weeks in NICU and is now almost 18 yrs old.

The only ailment she has is mild asthma and that runs in the family anyway. She has always been very bright and friendly and by the time she started school she had caught up with children her age in all but height and weight. (Starting school she was half a stone lighter that the lowest she should have been)

Now she has reached 5'3" (I am 5'5" and her dad is 5'10") so is still a little short but her weight has been spot on since she was about ten.

Hope this helps anyone worrying about their extra tiny one.

[earthmama369]

DS wasn't a preemie, but he was oxygen deprived for an unknown amount of time. His delayed APGARs (5 minutes and 10 minutes) were 3 and 5. I assume his immediate APGAR would have been a 0 or 1 since it took 5 minutes of resuscitation to get him up to a 3.

And he's fine now. He's actually quite bright. He does have some special needs (speech disorder and sensory processing disorder, allergies), but the allergies are due to the treatment he received to save his intestines and we have no way of knowing if the speech and sensory issues are due to his birth or if it's genetic. I do know that he has overcome them amazingly. His intellect, cognitive functioning, etc., do not appear to have been affected by the oxygen deprivation.

[colleen2851]

My son was born at 40w1d. Textbook pregnancy but with the cord around his neck twice and not breathing. He needed resuscitation and a transfusion. He spent 8 days in NICU. Everything seems on target with him but it's standard procedure to follow up with a pediatric developmental specialist, who we will see next month for the 1st time. I'm curious to hear more stories from moms in similar situations!

[pixiekisses]

My 30 weeker had 0, 3, 6, 7 as scores (1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min). She was resuscitated and it took some time to get her going properly.

But, she is concidered mentally gifted, and is far ahead of others her age. So we can safely say there was no long term damage from that.

[Jane]

The stats say that 5 minute apgar below 7 correlates with other learning difficulties.  It's pretty clear that 1 minute apgars do not correlate with any issues. 

Two things to remember, tho - most learning problems are in babies that were just fine at birth, and a score less than 7 isn't a sure problem - most babies even with low apgars at 5 and 10 minutes are still fine. 

Also, data always lags, because we have to wait for the children to grow up.  What was true for preemie care in 1990 is certainly not true now.  But, those 20 year olds are being studied and we use that info to give parents ideas about disabilities at different gestational ages.  For example, health care providers are cutting way way back on the use of oxygen in resus for adults and babies.  It will take time to see the results in lowered cancer and brain damage rates.