Fetal and Neonatal Edition Archives of Disease in Childhood

In the 38 years that have elapsed since Virginia Apgar described a scoring system for the assessment of the condition of infants at birth, the Apgar score has achieved legendary status as the 'gold standard' outcome measure for countless studies. In light of modem perinatal practice, it is important to assess the value of the score does it still measure what it originally intended to? Is the score being used appropriately? Can we improve on it?