Influence of Surgical Procedures and General Anesthesia on Child Development Before Primary School Entry Among Matched Sibling Pairs

Abstract

In this provincial cohort study, children who had surgical procedures that require general anesthesia before primary school entry were not found to be at increased risk of adverse child development outcomes compared with their biological siblings who did not have surgery. These findings further support that anesthesia exposure in early childhood is not associated with detectable adverse child development outcomes.