Anesthesia Can Lead to Lower IQ & Poor Language Skills, Study Reveals

The use of anesthesia is imperative in surgical operations. However, a recent study shows that it can diminish intelligence and language skills of children.

The study, conducted by a group of researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, was recently published online in Pediatrics Journal. The research collected data from 53 healthy subjects without surgical experience between the age of 5 to 18 years old and compared it with another set of 53 subjects who underwent surgery before the reaching 4 years old.

These children were carefully selected for this study, with age, gender, socioeconomic status, surgical length and type, and length of exposure to anesthetics  properly considered by the group. All participants involved had no history of any illness related to brain neurons.

Both group of subjects were given the same examination. Although the average examination result for all participants are within the norms, significant findings were noticed in two categories: IQ performance and listening comprehension. Researchers used a variety of testing methodology for the study, namely MRI scans, oral and written tests.  

In an article from Science Daily, lead researcher, Andreas Loepke, MD, PhD, FAAP, who is an anesthesiologist at CCHMC, relates that the goal of the study is to develop a more a safe procedure in administering anesthesiology specifically for children who need to be operated at a young age. They also want to learn more about the effects of anesthesiology in children's learning development.

Loepke and his team had previously conducted a similar study on the effects of anesthesia. However, the experiment was conducted on rats and resulted to loss of neurons. The study raised concern that it may possibly happen to children and will also impair the development of their neurons. As of now, Loepke considers the current process in administering anesthesiology as safe as foregoing surgery.

He further advises that if parents are wary of the effects of general anesthesia on their kids, they should talk with the pediatrician or surgeon in charge of their child's case. Discussing it with the appropriate people will raise awareness and will help them decide what is best for their child.

Currently, Loepke and his team are continuing work on the topic, and looking for other alternatives to alleviate the after-effects of anesthesia in children's neurodevelopment.