Knowledge, Attitude, and Performance of Pregnant Women Regarding General Anesthesia Neurotoxicity in Children under Three: A Report from an Academic Hospital

Recently, concerns about general anesthesia (GA)-related neurotoxicity has been growing in societies. Parents’ information obviously plays an important role to make right decision for elective surgeries on children aged under three years old.

The aim of this survey was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and performance of pregnant women about the GA-related neurotoxicity in children aged under three years old.

This descriptive study was conducted at Alzahra Teaching Hospital in Guilan, Iran, during 2020. The eligible pregnant women admitted to this center were interviewed, and a questionnaire containing 10 items was filled out by the responsible resident of anesthesiology.

In this research, a total of 361 pregnant women were enrolled and underwent a face-to-face interview. The mean age of the participants was 31.4 ± 7 years, 64.5% were living in urban areas, 82.5% were housewives, and 65.7% were multipara. Moreover, 83.7% of participants believed that receiving information in this regard was crucial, and 81.7% preferred physicians as the source of information. Only 8% of mothers had received information regarding the issue. A significant correlation was observed between the habitat, employment, the level of education, knowledge, and attitude status, and the source of receiving information.

According to our results, the knowledge, attitude, and performance of pregnant women were not optimal and needed to be improved through practical strategies.