Journal article
Long-term differences in language and cognitive function after childhood exposure to anesthesia
C Ing, C DiMaggio, A Whitehouse, MK Hegarty, J Brady, BS Von Ungern-Sternberg, A Davidson, AJJ Wood, G Li, LS Sun
Pediatrics | Published : 2012
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, the safety of anesthetic agents in children has been questioned after the discovery that immature animals exposed to anesthesia display apoptotic neurodegeneration and long-term cognitive deficiencies. We examined the association between exposure to anesthesia in children under age 3 and outcomes in language, cognitive function, motor skills, and behavior at age 10. METHODS: We performed an analysis of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study, which includes 2868 children born from 1989 to 1992. Of 2608 children assessed, 321 were exposed to anesthesia before age 3, and 2287 were unexposed. RESULTS: On average, exposed children had lower scores ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study is funded by project and program grants from the Raine Medical Research Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, the University of Western Australia (UWA), the UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Women and Infants Research Foundation, and Curtin University.