Strobes at concerts can provoke epileptic seizures

WEDNESDAY, June 12, 2019 (HealthDay News) – A 20-year-old man collapsed at a music festival following a first epileptic seizure. Although terrifying, his case was not unique, according to researchers who discovered that flashing strobe lights resulted in a risk of triple epileptic seizures in susceptible audiences.

"Whether strobe light effects are solely responsible or that sleep deprivation and / or drug abuse also play a role, the proper interpretation is that [electronic dance music] Festivals, especially at night, probably cause at least a number of people per epileptic seizure event, "wrote the authors.The main author is Newel Salet of the VU Medical Center. Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For this study, researchers collected data on concert-goers in need of medical badistance at 28 diurnal and nocturnal dance festivals organized in the Netherlands in 2015. Total attendance was more than 400,000 people.

Possible signs of epileptic seizure are loss of consciousness, muscle contractions, tongue bites, and urinary incontinence.

Nearly 242,000 people attended night concerts where stroboscopes were used and nearly 159,000 went to day festivals where stroboscopes were less intense due to sunlight. Among them, nearly 3,000 needed medical badistance, 39 for an epileptic seizure.

The researchers found that the risk of seizure was nearly four times higher at night festivals with heavy-duty stroboscopes than during daytime events.

Part of the study included an badysis of the use of ecstasy, a drug linked to an increased risk of epileptic seizures. But the researchers ruled out the drug as the only cause of convulsions.

The report was published online June 11 in the journal BMJ Open.

This study could not prove that the strobe lights were at the origin of these seizures, but only that the two seemed connected.

"We think, however, that our numbers are probably an underestimate of the total number of people who have had epileptic seizures," Salet and his colleagues said in a press release.

Epilepsy triggered by flashing lights is called photosensitive epilepsy. The authors recommended that anyone at risk of stroboscope reaction avoid electronic music festivals. If you go, make sure you get enough sleep, do not take drugs, and do not stand near the board. If you feel an "aura" – changes of perception that often precede a crisis – leave immediately.

More information

The Epilepsy Foundation has more about life with epilepsy.