Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

Infants who receive regular parental engagement demonstrate superior cognitive, linguistic, and motor development compared to those with infrequent parental presence. The study hypothesises that cognition and behaviour will differ among unexposed, singly exposed, and multiply exposed children. Parental involvement provides cognitive and language stimulation that contributes to better neurodevelopmental outcomes. Worse neurocognition and neurobehaviour may correlate with longer anaesthesia duration, more exposures, younger first exposure, and specific anaesthetic agents. Limited parental participation is associated with developmental delays in neonates. The Ballard Score and APGAR are specified as instruments for measuring neurodevelopmental outcomes in the review. The primary objective is to determine whether surgical general anaesthesia before school age is associated with poorer long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. The expected contribution is data on the association between early surgical general anaesthesia and long-term neurocognitive and neurobehavioural outcomes.