Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is characterized by uncontrollable and persistent playing of internet games despite the occurrence of negative consequences. Although there is a worldwide treatment demand, IGD still doesn't have an explicit biomarker. The primary goal of the study is to characterize lipidomic profiles specific to internet gaming disorder (IGD) based on liquid-chromatography Orbitrap mass-spectrometry (LC Orbitrap MS). Primarily, a total of 19 lipids were significantly dys-regulated in the IGD group compared to healthy controls. The lipidomic feature was mainly characterized by various types of phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and lyso-phosphatidylcholines (LysoPCs). Subsequent multivariate statistical model and linear regression model prioritized two LysoPCs (C16:0 and C18:0) for potential biomarker. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated excellent performance of the combined lipid set for discriminating the IGD group from healthy controls (AUC: 0.981, 95% confidence interval: 0.958-1.000). Additional evaluation with potential confounders and clinical parameters suggested robustness and potential applicability of the outcome as biomarkers which may aid diagnosis.
Keywords: Internet gaming disorder (IGD); Lipidomics; Liquid chromatography; Lyso-phosphatidylcholine; Orbitrap mass-spectrometry (LC-Orbitrap MS).
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