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Preliminary evidence of altered gray matter volume in subjects with internet gaming disorder: associations with history of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms

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Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is commonly comorbid with Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Although childhood ADHD symptoms may decline during late brain maturation, structural alterations in some brain areas may persist into adulthood. This study investigated whether young adults with IGD and a history of childhood ADHD symptoms had gray matter volume (GMV) alterations that were distinct from subjects without a history of childhood ADHD. As an exploratory investigation, we conducted a whole-brain voxel-based morphometry with the diffeomorphic anatomical registration using an exponentiated Lie algebra algorithm and applied an uncorrected threshold at the voxel level for multiple comparisons. GMVs of IGD subjects with a history of childhood ADHD (IGDADHD+ group; n = 20; 24.5 ± 2.5 years) were compared to those of subjects without a history of childhood ADHD (IGDADHD- group; n = 20; 23.9 ± 2.5 years) and controls (n = 20; 22.7 ± 2.4 years). Compared with controls, both IGD groups had a smaller GMV in the right anterior cingulate cortex, the left inferior frontal gyrus, and the left insula, yet had a larger GMV in the right angular gyrus. The IGDADHD+ group had a larger GMV in the right precuneus than the IGDADHD- group and controls. When controlling for other comorbid psychiatric symptoms, the IGDADHD+ group also had a smaller GMV in the right inferior frontal gyrus. In conclusion, we found that young adults with IGD and a history of childhood ADHD symptoms had characteristic GMV alterations, which may be linked with their manifestation of childhood ADHD.

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Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the Korean Mental Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HM14C2578).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Ilsan Hospital, National Health Insurance Corporation, 10444, Goyang, South Korea

    Deokjong Lee

  2. Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 03722, Seoul, South Korea

    Deokjong Lee, Kee Namkoong, Junghan Lee & Young-Chul Jung

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 03722, Seoul, South Korea

    Kee Namkoong & Young-Chul Jung

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  1. Deokjong Lee
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  2. Kee Namkoong
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  3. Junghan Lee
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  4. Young-Chul Jung
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Contributions

Deokjong Lee and Young-Chul Jung conceived and designed the study. Junghan Lee recruited participants and acquired imaging data. Deokjong Lee drafted the manuscript. Kee Namkoong and Young-Chul Jung provided critical revision of the manuscript and important intellectual content. All authors critically reviewed and approved the final version of this manuscript for publication.

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Correspondence to Young-Chul Jung.

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All procedures involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments, or comparable ethical standards. The experimental protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

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Informed consent was individually obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Lee, D., Namkoong, K., Lee, J. et al. Preliminary evidence of altered gray matter volume in subjects with internet gaming disorder: associations with history of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. Brain Imaging and Behavior 13, 660–668 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9872-6

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