Sedated Anesthesia for Kids Under 2 Years May Cause Learning Disability

There is mounting evidence in animals and in humans that general anesthesia might damage developing young brains.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic compared the learning skills of 350 kids who underwent 1 or more general anesthesia before age 2 to 700 kids who have never been under sedated (general) anesthesia. What they found was that before the age of 19 (after statistical normalization):

No significant difference in learning disability between kids who have been under anesthesia once (23 out of 100) with kids who have never been under anesthesia (21 out of 100).  

However, those kids who have been under anesthesia 2 or more times had increased rate of learning disability (36 out of 100). 

Based on animal studies, anesthetics are known to cause accelerated loss of brain cells during development which leads to learning and behavior problems later in life. Whether that's also true for humans has not been studied.

However, further study is required as the results were obtained based on observation and did not account for other variables (type of surgery for example).

This information, though not definitive, does warrant extra circumspection by parents and surgeons when deciding to pursue surgery in kids under age 2 years, no matter how minor the surgery including ear tubes, tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and turbinate reduction.

That said, a 2019 randomized controlled study suggests that at least in cases of short duration, general anesthesia in very young children has NO affect on neurodevelopment.

However, IF surgery pursued, one should perform as much as required to minimize need for a 2nd procedure at a later date. That means multiple procedures under one anesthesia would be preferable than multiple procedures at different times.

Of course, surgery should only be done if the benefits outweigh the risks including anesthetic risks.

Reference:
Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes After Early Exposure to Anesthesia and Surgery. Published online in Pediatrics October 3, 2011. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-0351

Neurodevelopmental outcome at 5 years of age after general anaesthesia or awake-regional anaesthesia in infancy (GAS): an international, multicentre, randomised, controlled equivalence trial. Lancet 393, ISSUE 10172, P664-677, FEBRUARY 16, 2019