Anesthesia in Young Kids Leads to Learning Disabilities
Exposure to anesthesia more than once before age three may significantly increase a child’s risk of developing learning disabilities. Researchers compared data on anesthesia exposure before the age of three and the diagnosis of a learning disability before the age of 19. Children who had been exposed to anesthesia once before the age of three had a risk of learning abilities that was the same as children who had never been exposed. Two exposures to anesthesia exposures increased the risk of learning disabilities by 59 percent. Three or more exposures elevated the risk by 160 percent.
The most common drugs used to anesthetize the children were nitrous oxide and halothane. The use of Halothane has been discontinued in the United States. It has been replaced by drugs that act similarly in the body, however. Nitrous oxide is used extensively.
