Small cohort finds no overall executive-function difference after childhood anesthesia

Researchers assessed 77 children aged 9–11 years, with or without a history of general anesthesia for surgery, in an ambidirectional cohort study. Participants completed eight cognitive measures covering inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, working memory and visuo-spatial attention. The primary analysis compared overall executive-function performance; exploratory latent profile analysis examined patterns of performance. The mean age at anesthesia exposure was 4.47 years (SD 3.00).

There was no significant overall executive-function difference by exposure (χ²(1)=0.01; p=0.92). The exploratory analysis identified “Efficient” and “Vulnerable Executive Control” profiles; exposure was associated with lower odds of belonging to the Efficient profile (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.705–0.710). Exposed children also had higher global-local precedence measures for visuo-spatial attention (estimate 0.53; 95% CI 0.04–1.01; p=0.036). The small cohort and exploratory findings limit interpretation; the study does not establish that anesthesia caused these differences or demonstrate an overall cognitive deficit.