Mayo Clinic Study Links Early Childhood Anesthesia With Learning Disabilities

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have found a link among children undergoing multiple surgeries requiring general anesthesia before age 2 and learning disabilities later in childhood, according to a MarketWatch report.

The study, published in the Nov. 2011 issue of Pediatrics, was conducted with existing data from 5,357 children from the Rochester Epidemiology Project and examined the medical and educational records of 1,050 children born between 1976 and 1982.

The researchers found that children exposed more than once to anesthesia and surgery prior to age 2 were approximately three times as likely to develop speech and language problems, compared to children who received no surgeries. Of the children who had multiple surgeries before age 2, 36.6 percent developed a learning disability later in life.

Of those children with just one surgery before the age of 2, 23.6 percent developed a learning disability. Of those children who never had surgery or anesthesia before age 2, 21.2 percent developed a learning disability.

Related Articles on Anesthesia:
Washington Surgeon Suspended Over Patient Death From Anesthetic
University of Virginia's Pain Center Continues Pioneering Tradition
Anesthesiologist Dr. David Dugan Joins Board of Kansas' Providence Medical Center

© Copyright ASC COMMUNICATIONS 2012. Interested in LINKING to or REPRINTING this content? View our policies by clicking here.