ADHD, video games, and seizures

I read an article this week about video games designed to treat ADHD. The concept sounds appealing:  use some time already spent on recreational video games to instead play therapeutic video games, and make ADHD treatment enjoyable enough that kids will stick with it. Another plus that developers point out is that treatment provided via games would not cause the side effects of ADHD medications. Games designed to improve some aspect of physical or mental health or performance are a fast-growing growing sector, and there’s even a scholarly research journal that launched this year, Games for Health Journal.

Video games are not without side effects, though, including seizures. ADHD, video games, and seizure vulnerability haven’t been studied together, but by piecing together some studies dealing with two of the three factors, the interconnectedness between them can be considered. So here is some information on ADHD and video games, and separately, information on ADHD and seizures. Put them together and think about video games and ADHD as being a risk factor for game-induced seizures. Developers of games to treat ADHD need to be conscious that the same neurological abnormalities that cause attention problems may also make people with ADHD more vulnerable to seizures from a video game.

ADHD and video games

Evidence is accumulating that exposure to typical (non-educational, non-therapeutic) video games is associated with later attention problems. It’s a highly charged subject because scientists can never account for all possibilities and variables in a single study, and people tend to feel very strongly one way or the other about video games. A lot more research is needed because so little has been done that follows the same children over time. Based on findings such as the following, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued cautions for parents about video game use.

“…[A]mount of time spent playing video games is associated with greater attention problems…[B]oth television viewing and video game playing were uniquely associated with attention problems…[T]he total time spent with screen media (both television and video games) was positively related to attention problems.

…Exposure to screen media was associated with later attention problems even when earlier attention problems and gender were statistically controlled. This provides stronger evidence…that screen media may influence attention problems; controlling for earlier attention problems…rules out the possibility that the association between screen media use and attention problems is merely the result of children with attention problems being especially attracted to screen media.

…[T]elevision viewing and video game playing were associated with attention problems in both middle childhood and late adolescent/early adult samples…These similar associations across age groups raise an important possibility about the persistence of television or video game exposure effects on attention problems. Whatever the ages at which watching television or playing video games may increase attention problems, the consequences may be quite long lasting or cumulative.” 

–Edward Swing et al., “Television and Video Game Exposure and the Development of Attention Problems” in Pediatrics, August 2010

ADHD and seizures

While findings from one study were announced regarding the high rate of photosensitive epilepsy in autism, no studies have been published on photosensitive epilepsy in people with ADHD. What studies do show, however, is that in people with ADHD seizures of all types occur at a much higher rate than in the general population. The findings suggest that environmental influences, including video games, could place people with ADHD at higher risk for photosensitive seizures.

There is increasing evidence and acceptance of some underlying brain dysfunction shared by epilepsy and ADHD, and people with one disorder have more than the usual risk of having the other condition as well.

As one study puts it,

“It is likely that there is a common neurobiological predisposition for both a lower seizure threshold and ADHD behaviors that may involve both genetic and environmental factors… We found a 2.7 fold greater incidence of epilepsy among children with ADHD than in controls.”

— Shanlee Davis et al., “Epilepsy in Children With ADHD: A Population-Based Study” in Pediatric Neurology, May 2010

Another study found that children with the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD have a risk of developing seizures that’s 3.7 times the normal odds. The odds for children with the combined type of ADHD, which includes inattention and hyperactivity, are 3.3 times the normal rate.

“ADHD precedes the development of epilepsy, and ADHD or its determinants must be considered risk factors for epilepsy.”

–Dale Hesdorffer, et al., “ADHD as a Risk Factor for Incident Unprovoked Seizures and Epilepsy in Children” in Archives of General Psychiatry, July 2004***

This was specific to the inattentive type of ADHD, which is presumably the intended market for video games designed to help with focus, memory, screening out distractions, etc.

ADHD + video games = higher likelihood of seizures 

I don’t know if games-for-health developers, particularly people working on ADHD treatment games, are more concerned about the seizure hazard than developers of games for pure entertainment. Presumably, a therapeutic application’s on-screen action would not be full of strobe effects. Without seeing the games, though, it’s hard to know for sure about the kinds of visual effects used to congratulate users on their score and signal the end of the game, for instance.

Let’s hope these games don’t do harm in their efforts to do good.

***Note that “incident unprovoked” in the study title refers to means a seizure that is not provoked by a medical situation unrelated to epilepsy, such as a head injury, fever, or intoxication. A photosensitive seizure triggered by flash is not considered provoked, because that is the nature of reflex epilepsies, that they are triggered by a sensory experience. The terminology is more than just confusing. Because the words “trigger” and “provoke” are close to synonymous, the use of “unprovoked” in defining seizures typical of epilepsy seems to exclude reflex seizures. The terminology both reflects and contributes to the relegation of reflex seizures to the sidelines of clinical training and research funding and perpetuates the perception that they are rare.

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