SynthesisJournal of anesthesia2015
Association between childhood exposure to single general anesthesia and neurodevelopment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort study.
Synthesis in Journal of anesthesia, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 31 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Association Between Prenatal Anesthesia Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcome : an Ambi-directional Cohort Study
Long-term Effect of General Anesthesia Before School Age on Neurodevelopment in Children With Congenital Scoliosis
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early childhood exposure to general anesthesia and subsequent risk of learning disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Pooled it
- Anesthetic Exposure During Childhood and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- General anesthesia in children and long-term neurodevelopmental deficits: A systematic review.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Prospectively assessed neurodevelopmental outcomes in studies of anaesthetic neurotoxicity in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of anaesthesia · 2021Pooled it
- Does Exposure to General Anesthesia Increase Risk of ADHD for Children Before Age of Three?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Posterior hemivertebra resection in children younger than three years: a single-center retrospective case series of medium-term outcomes, complications, and technical considerations.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Experiencing anesthesia and surgery early in life impairs cognitive and behavioral development.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Impact of Repeated Infantile Exposure to Surgery and Anesthesia on Gut Microbiota and Anxiety Behaviors at Age 6-9.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
- Behavioral Strategies to Minimize Procedural Distress During In-Office Pediatric Tympanostomy Tube Placement Without Sedation or Restraint.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2022Article
- Risk Indicators and Treatment Needs of Children 2-5 Years of Age Receiving Dental Treatment under General Anesthesia in Saskatchewan.Dentistry journal · 2022Article
- A National Population Cohort Study Showed That Exposure to General Anesthesia in Early Childhood Is Associated with an Increase in the Risk of Developmental Delay.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Percutaneous Achilles tenotomy under local anaesthetic in the clubfoot clinic was safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, for both children and parents.International orthopaedics · 2021Article
- The prevalence of non-syndromic orofacial clefts and associated congenital heart diseases of a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.The Saudi dental journal · 2021Article
- PET/CT in pediatric oncology.American journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2020Review
- Impact of a fast free-breathing 3-T abdominal MRI protocol on improving scan time and image quality for pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.Pediatric radiology · 2019Article
- Hand-held, dilation-free, electroretinography in children under 3 years of age treated with vigabatrin.Documenta ophthalmologica. Advances in ophthalmology · 2019Article
- Assessing Long-term Neurodevelopmental Outcome Following General Anesthesia in Early Childhood: Challenges and Opportunities.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2019Review
- Age-dependent outcomes in asymptomatic umbilical hernia repair.Pediatric surgery international · 2019Article
- Practice Variation in Umbilical Hernia Repair Demonstrates a Need for Best Practice Guidelines.The Journal of pediatrics · 2019Article
- Relevance of experimental paradigms of anesthesia induced neurotoxicity in the mouse.PloS one · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveMany studies have been done to seek the relationship between general anesthesia and neurodevelopment in pediatrics. However, there is no unified conclusion, especially single anesthesia affecting a child before 3 and 4 years. The association between anesthesia and neurodevelopment is studied using a meta-analysis.
methodsWe summarized the currently available evidence by searching PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library over the past 10 years. An evaluation of neurodevelopment including learning disability, behavioral disorders, and cognitive problems was conducted. We estimated the synthesized hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) according to inter-study heterogeneity and analyzed the factors for this association using meta-regression method.
resultsThirteen eligible studies met the inclusion criteria. The neurodevelopment damage was associated with single general anesthesia before age of 4 (adjusted HR 1.28 95 % CI 1.10-1.45). The pooled adjusted HR was 1.17 (95 % CI 1.07-1.28, p = 0.001) before 4 years old after the influence analysis and the adjusted HR was 1.18 (95 % CI 1.07-1.30, p = 0.001) before 3 years old. There was no significant difference between 3 and 4 years exposed to single general anesthesia (HR3/HR4 = 1.008, p = 0.9). Due to limitations of retrospective studies, prospective investigations are needed to determine whether anesthesia is causative.
conclusionsThe current evidence suggests a modestly elevated risk of neurodevelopmental disorders exists in children near 3 years of age. A single general anesthesia is relatively safe after 3 years, as the outcome is very close before 3 and 4 years old.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.