Repeat anaesthesia: what are the effects?

Abstract

“Early exposure to anesthesia and learning disabilities in a population-based birth cohort†was published in Anaesthesiology in March 2009. Wilder et al studied the association between anaesthesia before the age of four and the development of learning disabilities (LD), and found that, while a single anaesthetic was not associated with an increased risk of LD, receiving two or more anaesthetics was associated with a increased risk of LD (hazard ratio 1.59 for two anaesthetics, and 2.60 for ≥ three exposures). The risk for LD increased with longer cumulative duration of anaesthetic exposure.