Anesthesia to mother during C-section does no harm to child
POSTED July 30, 2009 - 22:05 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on July 30, 2009 - 22:05
The study has revealed that kids exposed to anesthesia during Cesarean section do not carry any additional risk of developing learning disabilities later in life as compared to children not delivered by C-section.
Risk not enhanced
Juraj Sprung, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist who led the study said, “We found that the incidence of learning disabilities was equal between children who were delivered vaginally and those who were delivered via C-section but with general anesthesia.”
"It's reassuring that the anesthetics required for Cesarean delivery do not appear to cause long-term brain problems," added Sprung.
For the purpose of the study researchers examined the medical records of 5,320 children of Olmsted County. These children were born between the years 1976 and 1982.
The study builds on a previous study which found that children exposed to a single dose of anesthesia in the initial part of their lives had no increased risk for learning disabilities. However, when these children were exposed multiple times, the risk of developing learning disabilities doubled.
In the present study, the researchers compared birth records with pedagogic accomplishments and IQ tests conducted on these children as a part of their schooling.
The study found that the use of anesthesia during delivery was not detrimental to the baby. Furthermore, babies delivered by Cesarean using an epidural anesthetic had a significantly abridged chance of contracting learning disabilities later in life.
Epidural anesthesia numbs only the lower region of the body. The would-be-mother does not go to sleep under this procedure.
“The risk was reduced by about 40 percent compared to children delivered vaginally and those delivered via Cesarean section but with general anesthesia,” Sprung said.
Words of caution
Study co-author and Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist Randall Flick, M.D., cautions, "What we've found is an association between two things. One is the way a child was delivered, either vaginally or under regional or general anesthesia.
"The other is a difference in the incidence of learning disabilities as the child attended school. It's important to recognize there may be many other factors that impact learning disabilities."
The findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the journal Anesthesiology.
