Young people flock to electronic dance music festivals that are
popular for their loud music and intense stroboscopic light beams
piercing the darkness. But those lights may be putting certain
visitors at risk of injuries, hospitalization or other complications
related to provoked seizures.
Lights strobing in the frequency range of 15-25 hertz, or cycles per
second, are known for their potential to cause seizures, the study
team writes in BMJ Open. This is especially true for people with
photosensitive epilepsy, for whom exposure to flickering or flashing
lights and patterns can trigger electrical disturbances in the
brain.
After treating a 20-year-old man with no history of epilepsy, who
was brought to the emergency department following a seizure at a
nighttime dance party, Newel Salet of the VU Medical Center in
Amsterdam and his colleagues set out to assess whether such cases
happen more often than realized.
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They analyzed data for more than 400,000 people who attended 28
electronic dance music concerts in The Netherlands in 2015, 60% of
which were indoor or nighttime events.
During these concerts, medical assistance was provided more than
2,700 times. A total of 30 epileptic seizure cases were identified
at nighttime concerts, while 9 seizure cases occurred during daytime
events.
This difference in seizure events could be due to the light effects
being far more intense in the dark than in well-lit daytime
environments, Salet said.
"We expected somewhat more (seizures at night) than during the day,
but not as much, maybe not three and a half times more," he told
Reuters Health by phone.
Although use of recreational drugs such as ecstasy - which has been
associated with increased seizure risk - was also more likely during
nighttime events, the proportion of seizure cases in which the drug
was used was similar at both daytime and nighttime concerts, the
researchers note.
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Organizers of EDM festivals should warn visitors of the risk of
seizures in situations where strobe lights are expected, as is done
for some video games and movies that have intense light effects,
said Dr. Ignacio Valencia of the Drexel University College of
Medicine in Philadelphia. Valencia, who spoke on behalf of the
American Epilepsy Society, wasn't involved in the study.
Meanwhile, visitors with a history of photosensitive epilepsy should
either avoid these events, or inform those accompanying them of
their condition, as these seizures can occur very quickly, Salet
said.
The researchers also recommend that visitors get enough sleep, avoid
alcohol and recreational drugs, avoid standing too close to the
stage and promptly move to a location away from the lights if they
begin experiencing symptoms.
However, preventing seizures in patients who are light-sensitive can
be tricky.
"If the lighting environment suddenly changes, someone may not have
much time to reposition themselves if they are vulnerable," said Dr.
David Burkholder, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota, who wasn't involved in the study.
"Nothing is completely reliable, but being aware of the potential
for a problem, thinking ahead, and having a plan in place to reduce
risk is important," he said by email.
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SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2X79KOu BMJ Open, online June 11, 2019.
(This story modifies para 10 to indicate that Dr. Valencia spoke on
behalf of the American Epilepsy Society.)
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