Video game addiction could soon become an official disease as the World Health Organisation is set to put the issue to a vote next week.

The vote comes as a growing body of evidence points to young gamers facing psychological distress as a result of addictive behaviour in relation to video games such as Fortnite.

MRI scans have pointed to links between depression and video game addiction, as well as the way addictive video games can have a similar effect on children’s brains as drug abuse or alcoholism.

Last year, the WHO made the decision to class video gaming as a medical disorder as part of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases.

Gaming disorder is defined by the WHO as a “pattern of gaming behaviour characterised by impaired control over gaming”, whereby users give increasing priority to gaming over other daily activities.