The Comparative Efficacy for Children and Young Adults With Internet Addiction/Internet Gaming Disorder: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Abstract

\n Internet Game Disorder (IGD) is a formal mental disorder leading to bad outcomes for children and adolescents. While (Internet Addiction) IA/IGD is recognized, controversy remains about the treatment guidelines. This study comprehensively compares the estimated effect of various pharmacotherapy and psychosocial intervention for IGD from randomized controlled trials (RCT) by updated meta-analysis, meta-regression. A search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Airiti Library between 2000 and 2017 was conducted for various IA/IGD intervention modals. 124 studies from 29 selected papers involving 5,601 children and young adults with IA/IGD were found. The preliminary random effect is 1.399 with 95% confidence interval of 1.272-1.527 by meta-analyzing pooled standardized mean difference (SMD), suggesting highly effective treatment of IA/IGD. After adjusting for the confounding risks of age, publication year, type of subjects, and type of study, this study reveals combining pharmacotherapy with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or multi-level counseling (MLC) is the most effective treatment option. Using scale of Online time spent scale or the severity of IA symptom scale were more effective measurement with p-values = 0.006 and 0.002, respectively. IA/IGD patients comorbid with depression showed worse outcomes than youth comorbid with another comorbidity. The corresponding model goodness-of-fit indices were τ2 = 1.188; I2-Residual=89.74%; and Adjusted- R2 = 16.10%. This systemic review provides clinicians with evidence that pharmacotherapy combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or multi-level counseling (MLC) is an effective treatment for gaming disorder in children and young adults.