Doctors warned yesterday that parents of epileptic children should be more careful about letting youngsters play video games and watch television for too long as more than 100 minors suffer seizures every year because of these habits.

Speaking ahead of a conference on epilepsy in Thessaloniki which begins today, the head of the organizing committee, Athanassios Kovanis, said that on average 84 children annually suffer epileptic fits because of strobe lighting, usually on TV programs, and 24 as a result of playing video games. Kovanis said that most seizures begin within half an hour of a child playing an electronic game.

Some 100,000 Greeks suffer from epilepsy. Kovanis said that young people who suffer from the illness need to be observed closely as they are four times more likely to suffer fits because of strobe lighting.