Washington, July 28 - Babies exposed to anaesthesia during caesarean deliveries are not at any higher risk of developing learning disabilities than children delivered normally.

'We found that the incidence of learning disabilities was equal between children who were delivered vaginally and those who were delivered via C-section but with general anaesthesia,' says Juraj Sprung, Mayo Clinic anaesthesiologist who led the study.

'It's reassuring that the anaesthetics required for caesarean delivery do not appear to cause long-term brain problems,' Sprung adds.

The study was conducted with data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project. Researchers analysed the medical records of 5,320 children born between 1976 and 1982 to mothers living in Olmsted County.

They compared birth records with scholastic achievement and IQ tests administered to the children later in life as part of their schooling.

The study builds on a previous project, reported in March, which found that children exposed to a single dose of anaesthesia during the first three years of life had no increased risk for learning disabilities, but those exposed multiple times had an almost doubled risk of learning disabilities.