Psychological effects of general anesthesia on five- to eight-year-old children

Thirty-six five- to eight-year-old children undergoing routine myringotomy procedures and maintained with halothane-N2O general anesthesia (mean duration = 17.9 min) were administered a series of psychological performance measures prior to and at about two hours after surgery. A control group of 30 children not experiencing anesthesia or surgery was tested at comparable intervals. In addition, 16 of the anesthesia group and 15 of the control group subjects were retested again the next day, about 24 h postsurgery. The anesthesia group demonstrated impairment on tests of reasoning, motor and memory functions at two hours postanesthesia. There was no evidence for continued impairment 24 h later. The effects at two hours postanesthesia did not appear related to induction medication or group differences in discomfort/symptomatology.