Lack of educational impact of video game addiction in children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The use of video games has become widespread worldwide. Excessive use of video games is increasingly becoming a matter of concern, particularly in patients diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Currently, internet gaming disorder (IGD) is not included within the DSM-5-chapter Disorders related to substances and addictive disorders .
Methods: This is a post-hoc descriptive naturalistic study comparing children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD with and without IGD. We used the 85% cut-off point of the test ADITEC-V for video game addiction to split our sample of ADHD patients into those with IGD (>=85%) and those without IGD (<85%).
Results: 13 (25%) out of the 51 children and adolescents with ADHD included in our study had an IGD. Patients with IGD had a first contact with internet, smartphones, and videogames at a very early age (5.67 ± 3.31, 6.33 ± 4.60, and 7.50 ± 2.61, respectively). However, only age at first contact with the internet was statistically significantly different when comparing ADHD patients with and without IGD (8.68 ± 2.71 vs. 5.67 ± 3.31, t  = 3.166, df = 47, p  = 0.01). Different neurodevelopmental, clinical, and neuropsychological measures converging in impulsivity is a risk factor for IGD. Unexpectedly, we found no association between IGD and poor academic achievement.
Discussion: Future studies may include randomized controlled trials for treating IGD, the study of social adjustment as a protective factor against developing an IGD, and the role of serious and non-serious video games in the development of an IGD, among others. Additional research is clearly needed on IGD.
Competing Interests: In the last 24 months, HB-F has received lecture fees from Takeda and Rubio. He is the principal investigator (PI) of an iPFIS (Contratos Predoctorales de Formación e Investigación en Salud) research contract (Instituto de Salud Carlos III; IFI16/00039) and the co-PI of a MINECO research grant (RTI2018-101857-B-I00); he is the recipient of (1) a grant from the Fundación para la Innovación y la Prospectiva en Salud en España and (2) an IDIPHIPSA intensification grant; involved in 2 clinical trials (MENSIA KOALA, NEWROFEED Study; ESKETSUI2002); Founder of Haglaia Solutions. He is also an employee and member of the advisory board of Ita Salud Mental (Korian). He is the member of a consortium developing a serious videogame for treating ADHD called “The Secret Trail of Moon” (TSTM) -still non-commercialized-. FS-S was employed by company TEA Ediciones. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2023 Blasco-Fontecilla, Menéndez-García, Sanchez-Sanchez and Bella-Fernández.)