Millett, Christopher Joseph;
(2000)
Seizures during video-game play and other common lesiure pursuits in known epilepsy patients without visual sensitivity.
Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Purpose: Some individuals who are negative to flash / pattern sensitivity have been reported to experience seizures whilst exposed to video games. This study sought to systematically examine whether playing video-games is a risk factor for seizures in patients with chronic epilepsy without visual sensitivity. Methods: Two hundred and twelve chronic epilepsy sufferers participated in the study. All were negative to rigorous flash and pattern sensitivity testing. They were randomly allocated to a video game playing session or to a period of leisure (involving reading, physical exercise, puzzles etc) and then alternated between these activities for a fixed total of eight forty-five minute periods whilst undergoing video EEG monitoring. The study ceased if the participant experienced a clinical seizure. Results: 25/212 subject experienced a seizure whilst participating in the study. Thirteen seizures occurred during periods of video game play and twelve during alternative leisure. Conclusions: The present study did not identify a greater risk of seizures in patients with non visually-sensitive epilepsy during video-game play compared with other common leisure pursuits. Furthermore, this investigation exposed a large population (212 patients) mostly with severe epilepsy, mainly drug- reduced and some sleep deprived, to prolonged video-game playing without observing a significant excess in the number of seizures. This finding provides strong support for the hypothesis that seizures during video-game play in the > 95% of the epilepsy population without visual sensitivity are most likely to represent a chance occurrence, although, as always, each individual should be carefully assessed.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil |
| Title: | Seizures during video-game play and other common lesiure pursuits in known epilepsy patients without visual sensitivity |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. |
| Keywords: | Biological sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10103704 |
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