Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jan 9, 2021
Date Accepted: Oct 12, 2021
Could Video Game-based Interventions Improve Performance and Cognitive Function in Older Adults?
ABSTRACT
Background:
The decline in performance of older includes balance function, physical function, fear of falling and depression. General cognitive function decline is described in terms of processing speed, working memory, attention, and executive functioning, and video-game interventions may effective.
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of video-game interventions on performance and cognitive function in older participants in terms of six indicators: balance functions, executive functions, general cognition, physical function, processing speed, fear of falling and depression.
Methods:
Electronic databases were searched for studies from inception to 30 June 2020. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case-controlled trials (CCTs) comparing video game interventions versus nonvideo game control in terms of performance and cognitive function outcomes were incorporated into a Bayesian network meta-analysis. All data were continuous variables.
Results:
Forty-seven studies (n=3244) were included. In pairwise meta-analysis, compared with nonvideo game control, video game interventions improved processing speed, general cognitive function and depression scores. In Bayesian network meta-analysis, interventions with video games improved balance function time (-3.34, -5.54 to -2.56), cognitive function score (1.23, 0.82 to 1.86), processing speed time (-0.29, -0.49 and -0.08) and processing speed number (0.72, 0.36 to 1.09), similar to the pairwise meta-analysis. Interventions with video games with strong visual senses and good interactivity ranked first, and these might be more beneficial for the elderly. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020197158.
Conclusions:
Our comprehensive Bayesian network meta-analysis provides evidence that video game interventions could be considered for older participants for improving performance and cognition functions, especially for general cognitive scores and processing speed. Games with better interactivity and visual stimulation had better curative effects. Based on the available evidence, we recommend video game interventions for the elderly. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO registration number CRD42020197158.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.