Key result
Early prolonged general anesthesia is not linked to cognitive differences at 10 months or 2-3 years.
Why the study?
Effects of early and prolonged exposure to general anaesthesia on the developing brain are unclear.
Does early prolonged general anaesthesia affect neurodevelopmental outcomes at 10 months and 2-3 years of age in infants?
Observational (n=90)
No
Does early prolonged general anaesthesia affect neurodevelopmental outcomes at 10 months and 2-3 years of age in infants?
Early prolonged general anaesthesia in the first 2 months of life does not appear to adversely affect neurodevelopmental outcomes at 10 months and 2-3 years of age.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports short-term neurodevelopmental safety of infant anaesthesia; leaves open need for randomized trials to confirm.
Background Effects of early and prolonged exposure to general anaesthesia on the developing brain are unclear. The study objective was to examine developmental outcomes at 10 months and 2–3 yr of age after general anaesthesia planned for >2 h in the first 2 months of life. Methods This is a secondary analysis of the General Anaesthesia & Brain Activity (GABA) study—a prospective, single-centre, longitudinal observational study. The final dataset included 59 children who were unexposed and 31 children who were exposed to early prolonged general anaesthesia who completed the primary outcome measure, Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSID) assessments at 10 months, at 2–3 yr old, or both. Analyses used adjusted Welch's t -tests, linear regression, and linear mixed effects models. Results BSID composite scores for cognition were similar between general anaesthesia and unexposed cohorts at 10 months ( P adj =0.566, standardised mean difference [SMD]=0.27) and at 2–3 yr ( P adj =0.651, SMD=0.25). Motor and language scores were similar between cohorts at 10 months (motor: P adj =1, SMD=0.13; language: P adj =0.806, SMD=0.19) and fell within typical reference ranges. Linear regression analysis found no association between BSID cognition scores and cumulative hours of general anaesthesia at 10 months ( R =0.06, P =0.635) or at 2–3 yr ( R =−0.13, P =0.293). Conclusions Children with early prolonged general anaesthesia showed BSID scores comparable to age-matched controls. This analysis provides additional preliminary support for the safety of general anaesthesia on the developing brain even when general anaesthesia is prolonged, repeated, or administered very early in life.
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Cornelissen et al. (2025) conducted an observational in Neurodevelopment after early prolonged general anaesthesia (n=90). Early prolonged general anaesthesia vs. Unexposed children was evaluated on Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSID) composite scores for cognition at 10 months (SMD 0.27, p=0.566). Early prolonged general anaesthesia in infancy was not associated with differences in cognition scores at 10 months (SMD 0.27, P=0.566) or 2-3 years compared to unexposed controls.
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