Tuesday, December 30, 2025 12/30/2025

General Anesthesia During Early Childhood and Brain Development

Award Number: R01HD089420
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2018
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

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General Anesthesia During Early Childhood and Brain Development - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Substantial data indicate that general anesthesia (GA) causes neurotoxicity and long-term deficits in learning and memory in young animals. Millions of young human children have GA annually. This is of great public health concern given the possibility that early GA could cause abnormalities in brain and cognitive development that might have lifelong consequences. Although there is great concern that findings from animal studies may apply to humans, limited evidence exists concerning the possible adverse effects on brain and cognitive development of early GA in humans. Studies using neuroimaging techniques are especially limited. Our objective in this proposal is to understand the consequences of GA during early childhood on subsequent brain structure, brain function, and cognition by comparing adolescents with GA during early childhood to otherwise similar control subjects without GA. We will evaluate the effects of GA on magnetic resonance imaging measures of brain tissue volume and composition, white matter integrity, regional brain activity during long-term and working memory tasks, and resting state functional connectivity, as well as cognitive test performance and academic achievement. Our hypotheses, based on our preliminary data, are that early GA will be associated with lower white matter volumes and diminished white matter integrity, memory-related changes in brain activity during long-term and working memory tasks, impaired visual long-term memory recognition, and a higher frequency of very low achievement test scores. The proposed research additionally aims to compare GA occurring at varying ages within the range of birth to 3 years, and accompanying high vs. low invasive procedures. We will focus primarily on children without significant central nervous system problems or potential risk factors that might constitute confounding factors. We additionally hypothesize that to whatever extent the hypotheses stated above are confirmed, the observed effects will be smaller for first GA exposure at older ages, e.g., smaller effects from exposure at 3 years relative to near birth; and be comparable for high vs. low invasive procedures, when other factors such as GA duration and gender are controlled. We also hypothesize that any such effects will increase with increasing GA duration. We will additionally explore influences of comorbidity (i.e., premature birth) and regional anesthesia on consequences of GA. The findings could address potential mechanisms of the brain effects of GA found in animal studies, such as apoptosis of oligodendrocytes and neurons and/or other neurotoxicity that occur during critical developmental periods. The proposed research will help fill a critical gap in knowledge concerning the consequences of GA during early childhood on brain and cognitive development, and provide information about its risks that might change best practices for clinical care of children who have GA.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2026	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	5	12/16/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	5	3/25/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	5	2/16/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $581,042 )
2023	2023	THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	5	5/16/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$581,042
														Subtotal = $581,042

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $608,278 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	4	6/8/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$608,278
														Subtotal = $608,278

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2021	2020	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	3	5/19/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2021	2020	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	3	5/18/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $602,796 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	3	3/31/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$602,796
														Subtotal = $602,796

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $601,963 )
2019	2019	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	2	4/25/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$601,963
														Subtotal = $601,963

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $589,687 )
2018	2018	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, THE	105 JESSUP HALL	IOWA CITY	IA	52242	JOHNSON	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	6/30/2018	NEW	$589,687
														Subtotal = $589,687

Grand Total All Awards = $2,983,766

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General Anesthesia During Early Childhood and Brain Development

Award Number: R01HD089420

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2018

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

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