Lipidomic profiles disturbed by the internet gaming disorder in young Korean males

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. •Lipid profiles revealed lipid metabolism dys-regulation by internet gaming disorder.•Discovery of biomarker cluster in combination with LysoPC 16:0 and LysoPC 18:0•Validation of biomarker recomposite by evaluation of potential confounding effects.