Radiomics-based feature exploration and auxiliary diagnostic model construction for gaming disorder

Subjective biases in current clinical assessments create an urgent need for objective biomarkers in Gaming Disorder (GD). Radiomics could help in diagnosis based on whole brain analysis and multidimensional indicators. This study aimed to find classification features of GD based on radiomics and to develop an auxiliary diagnostic model for GD. A total of 141 individuals with GD and 73 healthy controls underwent a clinical assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Radiomics was used for feature extraction and selection, support vector machine was employed to construct a classification model, and permutation test was applied to verify model performance. The model incorporated 67 brain functional features (accuracy: 86%, sensitivity: 93%, specificity: 75%, AUC: 0.92), primarily concentrated in the Default Mode Network, Executive Control Network, and Salience Network. Among these, right precuneus-left anterior cingulate cortex connectivity not only contributed most to the model's classification but also was significantly correlated with GD symptom severity (total score, withdrawal symptoms, tolerance, persistent engagement despite harm, and escape from problems/negative emotions). Radiomics provides a promising framework to identify GD features, unravel neural mechanisms, and assist objective diagnosis.