Assessment of causality between computer game playing and neuropsychiatric disorders: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

Introduction: Clinical studies indicated that computer games improve various aspects of physical function in different patients. However, research on the prevention of neuropsychiatric disorders through computer games is still insufficient. We utilized Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess whether there are the causal associations between playing computer games and schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BP), depression, panic disorder (PD), and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: We utilized summary statistics from genome-wide association studies of computer game playing and neuropsychiatric disorders. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary analysis approach to perform bidirectional two-sample MR analysis on the data. Cochran Q test, MR-Egger intercept analysis, and leave-one-out method were used to perform sensitivity analysis to assess the reliability of the analysis results.

Results: Findings revealed that computer gaming significantly lowers the risk of SCZ (IVW: odds ratio [OR] = 0.066, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.013-0.327, p = 8.885 × 10) and BP (IVW: OR = 0.213, 95% CI: 0.053-0.850, p = 0.029), with individuals having these conditions tending to reduce their computer gaming activities. Similarly, computer gaming was found to decrease the risk of depression (IVW: OR = 0.565, 95% CI: 0.323-0.989, p = 0.046), PD (IVW: OR = 0.234, 95% CI: 0.078-0.700, p = 0.009) and AD (IVW: OR = 0.323, 95% CI: 0.132-0.786, p = 0.013).

Conclusion: Our study emphasizes the potential of computer games in the prevention of various neuropsychiatric disorders, providing new perspectives and references for the prevention of neuropsychiatric disorders.