Aberrant degree centrality and functional connectivity in patients with internet gaming disorder

Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed functional and structural abnormalities in the brains of internet gaming disorder (IGD) patients. However, few studies have focused on the functional network "hub" properties of the brain in patients with IGD. This study combined degree centrality (DC) with functional connectivity (FC) analysis based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to investigate the connectivity patterns of whole-brain functional networks at the voxel level in patients with IGD. Ninety-seven IGD patients and seventy matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. Voxelwise DC analysis to quantify the functional network "hub" properties revealed significantly increased DC values in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, bilateral postcentral gyrus and left precuneus in IGD patients compared with HCs. FC analysis using the brain regions with abnormal "hub" properties as seeds revealed increased connectivity of the left precuneus with the lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), bilateral postcentral gyrus and right precuneus; bilateral postcentral gyrus with the precuneus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), OFC and middle temporal gyrus; and bilateral superior temporal gyrus with the postcentral gyrus, precuneus and middle temporal gyrus. The AUC values of DC, FC and the combined analysis for distinguishing IGD patients from HCs were 0.738, 0.850 and 0.864, respectively. These findings demonstrated that IGD may be a network disease characterized by disorganization of local and remote connectivity patterns; in particular, the disrupted FC between the left posterior central gyrus and middle temporal gyrus cross-DMN and sensorimotor network may be associated with the pathogenesis of IGD, which provides new insights into the neuropathological mechanisms underlying IGD.