Science Links Japan | Incidences of Seizures and Other Health Hazards Triggered by Exposures to an Animated TV Program "Pocket Monster" on 16 December 1997. Report 2: An Extensive Multi-institutional Questionnaire Survey in the Kanto District with 14.6 Million Households.

Incidences of Seizures and Other Health Hazards Triggered by Exposures to an Animated TV Program "Pocket Monster" on 16 December 1997. Report 2: An Extensive Multi-institutional Questionnaire Survey in the Kanto District with 14.6 Million Households.

Accession number;02A0168950

Title;Incidences of Seizures and Other Health Hazards Triggered by Exposures to an Animated TV Program "Pocket Monster" on 16 December 1997. Report 2: An Extensive Multi-institutional Questionnaire Survey in the Kanto District with 14.6 Million Households.

Author; FUNATSUKA MAKOTO (Tokyo Women's Med. Coll., Fac. of Med.) FUJITA MICHINARI (Tokyo Women's Med. Coll., Fac. of Med.) OSAWA MAKIKO (Tokyo Women's Med. Coll., Fac. of Med.) ISHII NOZOMI (Tokyo Women's Med. Coll., Fac. of Med.) FUKUYAMA YUKIO (Shonishinkeigakuken)

Journal Title;Journal of the Japan Pediatric Society

Journal Code:F0896A

ISSN:0001-6543

VOL.106;NO.1;PAGE.52-59(2002)

Figure&Table&Reference;FIG.1, TBL.3, REF.19

Pub. Country;Japan

Language;Japanese

Abstract;Background: An outbreak of episodes of acute neurological symptoms among children took place concomitantly with watching an animated TV program "Pocket Monster" on 16 December 1997. A close chronological tie between TV watching and symptoms strongly suggested a probable causal relation. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to all 2,268 hospitals registered in the Kanto district of Japan. This district comprises 14.60 million households. Valid replies were receved from 48% of the hospitals. Comprehensive information was provided for a total of 325 patients who were subsequently included in the analysis. The incidence rate was calculated for number of total audience in this district in accordance with the audience rating recorded every minute per household. The maximum or minimum rate was obtained based on the speculated number of audience per household. Results: The overall incidence rate was calculated at 0.0044-0.0120%, and that for patients with convulsion or loss of consciousness was at 0.0034-0.0092%. The incidence rate by age was also calculated with the highest being 0.0222% at age 13. Conclusions: The maximum incidence rate of 0.0120% is probably close to the actual one as the audience rating in adulthood would be low, considering the content of the program in question. Compared with the annual incidence rate on photosensitive epilepsy reported by investigators (5.7 per 100,000 around the age 7-19), the present result could be said to be record-breaking for children aged 13; that is, approximately 1 in 5,000 children aged 13 experienced seizures or other symptoms while watching the animated TV program. (author abst.)

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