Recent study revealed that children exposed to anesthesia during first three years of their life are at higher risk of developing learning disabilities when they grow up. Previous studies have shown that anesthetic drugs can lead to abnormalities in the brains of young animals.

Research team led by Randall Flick, a paediatrician at Rochester's Mayo Clinic analyzed data collected from studied the medical records of 5,357 children from Olmsted County who were born between 1976 and 1982.
Out of these children 593 children underwent anaesthesia before the age of four and more than 4,700 others did not.

Data analysis revealed that children undergoing anaesthesia twice had 59 percent higher risk of developing learning disability. The risk increased with the increase in number of exposures.

Study report said that children who remained under anaesthesia for more than two hours, however, faced the greatest risk in this connection.

Randall Flick, M.D., a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist and co-author of the study said: "It's very important for parents and families to understand that although we see a clear difference in the frequency of learning disabilities in children exposed to anesthesia, we don't know whether these differences are actually caused by anesthesia."

Image Source: amazingkids.org