By Vanessa Chalmers Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 23:30 BST, 11 June 2019 | Updated: 23:30 BST, 11 June 2019
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Strobe lights used at dance music festivals triple the risk of an epileptic seizure, a study has found.
Researchers have warned flashing lights can trigger a seizure even in people who have never had one before.
A lack of sleep and drugs could also play a role - both of which are commonplace at festivals, doctors said.
They added that festival organizers rarely give a warning to individuals susceptible to what is known as photosensitive epilepsy.
The findings come as millions of people in the Europe prepare to take on the festival season.
Festival goers have triple the risk of an epileptic seizure when faced with strobe lighting during a night-time performance compared with a daytime one, a study has found
Experts from a medical centre in the Netherlands revealed a case study of a 20-year-old man who collapsed and had a seizure at an EDM concert.
He had experienced an uncomfortable 'aura-like' experience while watching strobe lights before having a seizure which lasted a few minutes.
The unidentified man denied consuming any alcohol, drugs or medication and had no previous history of seizures, it was reported in BMJ Open.
Researchers, led by Dr Newel Salet of the Department of Internal Medicine, went on to reveal study findings of 400,343 festival visitors.
All had attended one of 28 electronic dance music festivals across the country throughout 2015.
A total of 241,543 were exposed to strobe lights at night-time festivals, as opposed to day time festivals where less lighting was used.
Medical assistance was provided on 2,776 occasions, according to data from one company which provided services to all the festivals.
Strobe lighting more than tripled the risk of seizures, as 30 of the 39 cases of epileptic seizure happened at a night-time event.
Fewer than one-third of people having a seizure had used drugs. But the proportion of people who had used drugs in both groups of visitors,
