Exposure to General Anaesthesia in Infancy and Neurocognitive Development

Prospective Cohort Study of Effects of Exposure to General Anaesthesia in Infancy on Neurocognitive Development

This prospective cohort study aims to determine if apparently healthy children with no significant co-morbidities who undergo general anaesthesia for minor surgery before 15 months of age will develop measurable deficits in neurocognitive development compared to apparently healthy children with no significant co-morbidities who do not undergo general anaesthesia or surgery.

We hypothesize that healthy children exposed to general anaesthesia for minor surgery before 15 months of age will have significantly lower neurocognitive scores at 6,18, 24 and 36 months of age compared with age, and gender matched healthy children from the GUSTO cohort without prior exposure to general anaesthesia or surgery. (GUSTO: Growing Up Towards Healthy Outcomes in Singapore: a prospective longitudinal study providing normative data from the local population).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Infants born > 36 weeks gestation
• No significant co-morbidities
• Who undergo general sevoflurane anaesthesia for minor surgery lasting <150 minutes (including herniotomies, orchidopexies, circumcisions and pyloromyotomies) before 15 months of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Prematurity <36 weeks gestation
• Birth weight less than 2400g
• Presence of a genetic or chromosomal disorder
• Disorder of the central nervous system, including any seizure disorder
• Major congenital cardiac defects