An observational study in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Child Behavior Disorders, sponsored by University Hospital, Caen. Completed at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 8 Years to 10 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-14.
Sponsored by University Hospital, Caen · Observational
This study aims to evaluate the potential long-term cognitive effects of general anesthesia administered before the age of 4. Specifically, it investigates executive functions-including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility-in children aged 9 to 10 years. A secondary objective assesses visuo-spatial attention.
Participants will be divided into two groups: (1) children exposed to a single general anesthesia for functional surgery before age 4, and (2) a control group with no such exposure. Cognitive performance will be assessed through computerized tasks with time constraints, conducted in a school setting. The study is designed to compare these groups prospectively in order to determine whether early exposure to general anesthesia is associated with differences in cognitive functioning at school age.
This study investigates the long-term cognitive effects of early exposure to general anesthesia in children. Specifically, it focuses on evaluating executive functions-namely inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility-in children aged 9-10 years who underwent functional surgery with general anesthesia before age 4. A secondary objective includes assessing visuo-spatial attention and general intelligence.
Executive functions will be measured using standardized, computerized tasks. Inhibition will be assessed through both an emotional Stroop (hot inhibition) and a classic Stroop task (cold inhibition). Working memory will be evaluated using a spatial sequence recall task on a grid, in both forward and reverse order. Flexibility will be measured through an adapted version of the computerized Trail Making Test, requiring rule-switching between tasks based on stimulus color.
Visuo-spatial abilities will be assessed using a global-local task involving hierarchical visual stimuli, allowing for evaluation of attention to detail versus overall structure. General intelligence will be measured using Raven's Progressive Matrices.
Participants will be recruited from selected elementary schools in partnership with local educational authorities. Eligible children will be grouped based on prior exposure to general anesthesia, matched on age, sex, and socio-economic status. Testing will occur in school settings during class time under controlled, blinded conditions. Data will be anonymized and processed in accordance with GDPR standards. Statistical analyses will include MANOVA and linear models to assess group differences.
35 studies on the registry are indexed under Child Behavior Disorders; 10 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 80 is below the median of 350 across 10 observational studies indexed under Child Behavior Disorders.
Browse Child Behavior Disorders studies →University Hospital, Caen is the lead sponsor of 512 studies on the registry; 82 are open to participants now.
Compared within Child Behavior Disorders, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Neurodevelopmental Disorders. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Children aged 9-10 years, attending school, who have either been exposed or not exposed to general anesthesia for a functional surgery before the age of 4.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Children aged 9-10 years Mainstream class (non-specialized) Requirement for information on the right to object Requirement for affiliation with social security French-speaking
Exclusion Criteria:
Criteria for "Parents" Parental refusal Twins Exposure to general anesthesia during pregnancy, including cesarean section under general anesthesia
Pregnancy-related pathology:
Chronic treatment during pregnancy:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Children aged 9 or 10 at the time of the study, who were exposed to a single general anesthesia for a functional surgery during childhood before the age of 4.
Other: Executive functions assessment
Children aged 9 or 10 at the time of the study, who were not exposed to general anesthesia for surgery during childhood.
Other: Executive functions assessment
Inhibition: Emotional (hot) and logical (cold) inhibition using Emotional and Classic Stroop tests. Participants identify the color of words or emotion in photos while inhibiting automatic responses. Inhibition scores are based on the difference in response times between congruent and interference conditions. Working Memory: Participants recall a sequence of points on a grid, first in the original order, then in reverse. The working memory score is the difference between the two tasks. Cognitive Flexibility: A task requiring alternation between identifying numbers as greater/less than 5 or even/odd based on color cues. Flexibility is scored by comparing response times for alternating and non-alternating tasks. Visuospatial abilities are assessed with a global-local task. Raven's Progressive Matrices will assess general intelligence, and socio-economic data will be collected.
Inhibition/ working memory/ flexibility
Cold Inhibition: Measured by the Stroop task (color-word interference). Unit: reaction time difference (ms). Hot Inhibition: Measured by the emotional Stroop (faces and emotional words). Unit: reaction time difference (ms). Working Memory: Assessed via forward and backward spatial recall on a grid. Unit: number of correct sequences. Cognitive Flexibility: Measured by a rule-switching task (digit color cues: magnitude vs. parity). Flexibility is the RT difference between switch and control tasks. Unit: reaction time difference (ms).
Time frame: Day 1 (single school testing session). The assessment of all judgment criteria is conducted during a 30-minute timed testing session on a computer, with the child present.
Visuo-spatial abilities/ measure of general intelligence
Visuo-spatial abilities will be assessed using a global-local task, where participants identify shapes (square or circle) at either the global or local level, based on hierarchical stimuli. This evaluates attentional processing of visual details vs. overall structure. A general intelligence test will also be administered to ensure group equivalence.
Time frame: Day 1 (single school testing session). The assessment of all judgment criteria is conducted during a 30-minute timed testing session on a computer, with the child present.
Plan to share: Undecided
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Ran from Mar 2025 to primary completion in Mar 2025, 0 months.
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