Effects of general anaesthesia in early childhood on local and global visual processing: a post hoc analysis of the APEX cohort study.
Br J Anaesth
; 133(2): 344-350, 2024 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38862383
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Preclinical studies suggest that early exposure to anaesthesia alters the visual system in mice and non-human primates. We investigated whether exposure to general anaesthesia leads to visual attention processing changes in children, which could potentially impact essential life skills, including learning.METHODS:
This was a post hoc analysis of data from the APprentissages EXécutifs et cerveau chez les enfants d'âge scolaire (APEX) cohort study. A total of 24 healthy 9-10-yr-old children who were or were not exposed to general anaesthesia (for surgery) by a mean age of 3.8 (2.6) yr performed a visual attention task to evaluate ability to process either local details or general global visual information. Whether children were distracted by visual interference during global and local information processing was also assessed.RESULTS:
Participants included in the analyses (n=12 participants exposed to general anaesthesia and n=12 controls) successfully completed (>90% of correct answers) the trial tasks. Children from both groups were equally distracted by visual interference. However, children who had been exposed to general anaesthesia were more attracted to global visual information than were control children (P=0.03).CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest lasting effects of early-life exposure to general anaesthesia on visuospatial abilities. Further investigations of the mechanisms by which general anaesthesia could have delayed effects on how children perceive their visual environment are needed.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Atenção
/
Percepção Visual
/
Anestesia Geral
Limite:
Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article