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.

Psychological Profile in Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain.

(1) Background: Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) is a prevalent medical condition with a complex treatment due to different variables that influence its clinical course. (2) Methods: Psychological variables such as depression, anxiety, catastrophizing or neuroticism have been described as influencing CPP. This is a cross-sectional study of 63 patients with CPP sent for a psychological evaluation due to participation in group therapy for CPP. The main purpose of this study was to characterize the baseline psychological characteristics of women with CPP. The NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) were performed. (3) Results: The personality profile of patients (NEO FFI) shows high neuroticism, low extraversion and low conscientiousness. The 25.4% of patients had moderate or severe depression according to BDI-FS results, almost half of the patients had high levels of anxiety trait (>P75, 49.2%) and more than half the patients had high levels of anxiety state (>P75, 59.5%). Punctuations of PCS and CPAQ are similar to patients with fibromyalgia. (4) Conclusions: CPP is associated with high levels of depression, anxiety, neuroticism, catastrophizing and low pain acceptance. It is important to develop interventions that can modify these psychological factors in order to improve the clinical course of CPP.

A Virtual Reality Serious Videogame Versus Online Chess Augmentation in Patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: Serious videogames and virtual reality (VR) have gained increasing interest for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "The Secret Trail of Moon" (TSTM) study is a clinical trial devoted to testing the efficacy of TSTM, a VR serious videogame developed to train in five major cognitive skills usually compromised in patients with ADHD. This study is a three-arm nonequality trial comparing TSTM to online chess training and a control group (CG). This study aims to demonstrate that augmentation with either TSTM or online chess is efficacious in clinically drug-stable patients with ADHD. Materials and Methods: This study is prospective, unicentric, and randomized with a CG. One hundred five patients with ADHD, ages 12-22 years old, and pharmacologically stable were enrolled. Patients were randomized into three groups: TSTM group, online chess group (therapeutic chess [TC]), and CG. Objective and subjective measures of the patient and parents are included. Patient visits differ for each group. TSTM group patients have 15 face-to-face visits: preinclusion visit, inclusion visit, 12 training visits, and final visit. TC and CG patients have 3 face-to-face visits (preinclusion, initial visit, and final visit) and 12 e-mail or phone communications during training (TC) or follow-up (CG group). This study was approved by the local Institutional Review Board (IRB). Results: Not applicable. This is a study protocol. Conclusion: This is the first study testing an augmentation strategy using either a serious videogame or chess in clinically drug-treated patients with ADHD. Using VR serious videogames present with several advantages over traditional videogames. Trial Registration: NCT04355065.

A Virtual Reality Game (The Secret Trail of Moon) for Treating Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Development and Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects between 4% and 8% of children worldwide. The treatment of choice is multimodal treatment. Multimodal interventions for ADHD may be improved by incorporating new treatments, such as treatment via serious video games. The Secret Trail of Moon (TSTM) is a virtual reality serious video game that was designed for cognitive training related to core ADHD symptoms and executive dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the development and usability of TSTM. METHODS: The usability study included 37 children and adolescents who tested TSTM during the early usability stage (preinclusion) of a randomized controlled clinical trial for testing the effectiveness of TSTM. Chi-square tests were performed to compare patients with ADHD (ADHD combined subtype vs inattentive subtype) and to compare frequent and infrequent video game players in the second study. We used SPSS version 20 for Macintosh (IBM Corporation). RESULTS: A total of 31/37 (86%) and 30/37 (83%) of participants liked playing TSTM and wanted to continue playing TSTM, respectively. Further, 5/37 (14%) of participants reported that they experienced either perceived dizziness or virtual reality motion sickness. We found no statistically significant differences after comparing the ADHD combined subtype to the inattentive subtype and frequent video game players to infrequent video game players. CONCLUSIONS: Serious video games, such as TSTM, may complement the current multimodal approach for treating ADHD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04355065; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04355065.