The research team at Kyushu University conducted an analysis at the world's only "hikikomori research outpatient clinic" owned by Kyushu University Hospital, and reported the blood components that characterize hikikomori.
The number of people who have been withdrawn from home for more than 6 months (hereinafter referred to as “hikikomori”) has already exceeded 100 million in Japan, and it is a national urgent task to establish preventive, supportive, and therapeutic methods.Hikikomori is recognized worldwide as a social phenomenon originating in Japan, such as being described as "hikikomori" in the Oxford dictionary, but there is concern that the number of hikikomori people will increase overseas, especially in the case of Korona-ka.On the other hand, there has never been a rigorous diagnostic evaluation method based on an objective index of hikikomori.
This research team has set up the world's first outpatient department for hikikomori research at Kyushu University Hospital. We searched for various blood components (biomarkers).As a result, it was found that ornithine and acylcarnitine were higher and bilirubin and arginine were lower in the blood of the withdrawn person than in the healthy person.We also found that serum arginase was significantly higher in male hikikomori.
When a machine learning discrimination model was created based on these blood data and clinical data, it was possible to distinguish between hikikomori and healthy people and to predict the severity of hikikomori with high accuracy.It is hoped that this study will advance the biological understanding of hikikomori by obtaining an objective index called a blood biomarker that characterizes hikikomori.In addition, it is expected that some biomarkers will lead to the development of preventive and supportive methods such as nutritional therapy in the future.
Paper information:[Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience] Blood Metabolic Signatures of Hikikomori, Pathological Social Withdrawal
