Daily Archive for March 28th, 2009

Cumulative percentage of learning disabilities diagnosis by the age at exposure shown separately for those that have zero, one, or multiple anesthetic exposures before age 4 yr. (Fig 1 from Wilder et al., see sources).

Writing in the academic journal Anesthesiology under the title “Early Exposure to Anesthesia and Learning Disabilities in a Population-based Birth Cohort,” Robert T. Wilder, M.D., and colleagues reported that young children’s exposure to anesthesia was associated with a significant risk for development of Learning Disabilities in children having anesthesia two or more times during early childhood. Although the findings are consistent with analog studies showing that anesthetics affect baby animals’ brain development, they do not necessarily indicate that the drugs caused the children’s LD; one or more other factors could have caused both the need for the surgeries and the LD.

The investigators studied the association between anesthetic exposure before age 4 yr and the development of learning disabilities (LD). A single exposure to anesthesia (n = 449) was not associated with an increased risk of LD (hazard ratio = 1.0, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79-1.27). However, children receiving two anesthetics (n = 100) or three or more anesthetics (n = 44) were at increased risk for LD (hazard ratio = 1.59, 95% CI, 1.06-2.37, and hazard ratio = 2.60, 95% CI, 1.60-4.24, respectively). The team noted they cannot determine whether anesthesia itself may contribute to LD, or whether the need for anesthesia is a marker for other unidentified factors that contribute to LD.

In the following video, two of the researchers discuss the project and it’s implications.

Link to the Mayo Clinic press release. Free access to the full article. Hear (or read, or both) Joseph Shapiro’s report on the story for US National Public Radio.

Wilder, R. T., Flick, R. P., Sprung, J., Katusic, S. K., Barbaresi, W. J., Mickelson, C., Gleich, S. J., Schroeder, D. R., Weaver, A. L., & Warner, D. O. (2009). Early exposure to anesthesia and learning disabilities in a population-based birth cohort. Anesthesiology, 110, 796-804.