The impact of general anesthesia on child development and school performance: a population-based study

Abstract

Background: There has been considerable interest in the possible adverse neurocognitive effects of exposure to general anesthesia and surgery in early childhood. Aims: The aim of this data linkage study was to investigate developmental and school performance outcomes of children undergoing procedures requiring general anesthesia in early childhood. Methods: We included children born in New South Wales, Australia of 37+ weeks’ gestation without major congenital anomalies or neurodevelopmental disability with either a school entry developmental assessment in 2009, 2012, or Grade-3 school test results in 2008-2014. We compared children exposed to general anesthesia aged <48 months to those with..