14 DAY TRIAL // In a new scientific study they've conducted, US experts at the Mayo Clinic have determined that subjecting mothers to anesthetics during Cesarean section surgery has no effect on the children's ability to learn later on in life. The find puts worried would-be mothers at rest, as the dangers of this type of procedure have not been known up to this point. Details of the new investigations appear in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Anesthesiology.
“We found that the incidence of learning disabilities was equal between children who were delivered [normally] 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,” Mayo Clinic Anesthesiologist Juraj Sprung, M.D., PhD, who has also been the leader of the new study, explains. Data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project were used for compiling the report, e! Science News reports.
“What we've found is an association between two things. One is the way a child was delivered, either [normally] 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,” Mayo Clinic Anesthesiologist Randall Flick, M.D., who has also been a co-author of the new paper, adds.
More than 5,320 charts belonging to children born between 1976 and 1982 were analyzed for the new survey. Details of how their birth went, and of whether anesthesia was required, were cross-referenced with school results they had later on in life, as well as with IQ tests the children were given. The team learned that, in the case of mothers giving birth under the influence of epidural anesthesia, which only numbs parts of the body, the risk of learning impairment later on in life for their kids was significantly lowered.