Early exposure to anesthesia and learning disabilities in a population-based birth cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anesthetic drugs administered to immature animals may cause neurohistopathologic changes and alterations in behavior. The authors studied association between anesthetic exposure before age 4 yr and the development of reading, written language, and math learning disabilities (LD).

Methods

This was a population-based, retrospective birth cohort study. The educational and medical records of all children born to mothers residing in five townships of Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1982 and who remained in the community at 5 yr of age were reviewed to identify children with LD. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate hazard ratios for anesthetic exposure as a predictor of LD, adjusting for gestational age at birth, sex, and birth weight.

Re

SUBMITTER: Wilder RT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2729550 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature