Structural and Functional Neural Alterations in Internet Addiction: A Study Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Liu, Jun-Li; Sun, Jing-Ting; Hu, Hui-Lin; Wang, Hao-Yuan; Kang, Yun-Xi; Chen, Tian-Qi; Chen, Zhu-Hong; Shang, Yu-Xuan; Li, Yu-Ting; Hu, Bo; Liu, Rui

doi:2023.20.1.69

Psychiatry Investig > Volume 20(1); 2023 > Article

Study Protocol

Psychiatry Investigation 2023;20(1):69-74.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2021.0383 Published online January 25, 2023.

Structural and Functional Neural Alterations in Internet Addiction: A Study Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Jun-Li Liu¹

, Jing-Ting Sun^2,3

, Hui-Lin Hu⁴

, Hao-Yuan Wang⁵

, Yun-Xi Kang¹

, Tian-Qi Chen⁶

, Zhu-Hong Chen³

, Yu-Xuan Shang³

, Yu-Ting Li³

, Bo Hu³

, Rui Liu⁷

^¹Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an, China
^²Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, China
^³Department of Radiology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China
^⁴Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
^⁵McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
^⁶Institution of Basic Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China
^⁷Department of Rehabilitation, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China

Correspondence: Bo Hu ,Tel: +86-29-84778689, Email: rayhb@foxmail.com
Correspondence: Rui Liu ,Tel: +86-29-84777756, Email: tdliurui@fmmu.edu.cn

Received: December 16, 2021 Revised: May 18, 2022 Accepted: July 4, 2022 Published online: January 25, 2023

Abstract

A growing number of neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal brain structural and functional alterations in subjects with internet addiction (IA), however, with conflicting conclusions. We plan to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the studies of voxelbased morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), to reach a consolidated conclusion and point out the future direction in this field. A comprehensive search of rsFC and VBM studies of IA will be conducted in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases to retrieve studies published from the inception dates to August 2021. If the extracted data are feasible, activation likelihood estimation and seed-based d mapping methods will be used to meta-analyze the brain structural and functional changes in IA patients. This study will hopefully reach a consolidated conclusion on the impact of IA on human brain or point out the future direction in this field.

Key words Internet addiction; Smartphone; Social media; Voxel-based morphometry; Resting state functional connectivity