National Nursing Review : Nursing Study Resources & Health Tips

Silverman index is a score to assess, in the premature infant, the severity of respiratory distress syndrome.
It is most often due to a lack of surfactant (liquid lining the inner surface of alveoli.)
Silverman index depends on several parameters:

• Balancing thoraco-abdominal inspiration: mobilization of the thorax and abdomen.
• Indrawing depression abnormal chest wall, visible up to the intercostal spaces (circulation under sternum) during heavy breaths.
• This draw may also be visible above the sternum (sternal random addition). This phenomenon occurs when the entry of air into the lungs is obstructed by a mechanical obstacle.
• Funnel xiphoid.
• Flapping wings of the nose.
• Grunting.

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