Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Apr 28, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 2, 2021
The effects of active video games on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in overweight or obese children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Childhood obesity is one of the most important public health problems of the 21st century and active-video games have been proposed as a good alternative to exercise and are being investigated to find out their effectiveness against childhood obesity.
Objective:
to summarize the current research and extract conclusions about the effects of active video games on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.
Methods:
The search strategy was applied to PubMed, Medline, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus, including randomized and non-randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of programs using active video games on health-related physical fitness and motor competence of children and adolescents with overweight and obesity. Two different quality assessment tools were used to measure the risk of bias for randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria and the variables of interest were body mass index, body fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness, waist circumference, fat-free mass, muscular fitness and motor competence. A meta-analysis was performed.
Results:
Positive effects were found for body mass index and body fat percentage, favouring the active video games group compared with a control group with no intervention (MD, -0.209; 95% IC, -0.388, -0.031; an d MD, -0.879; 95% IC, -1.138, -0.602, respectively). Positive effects seem to be found for cardiorespiratory fitness. The effects of interventions with active video games on muscular fitness, fat-free mass and waist circumference and motor competence are unclear.
Conclusions:
Programs using active video games showed positive effects on body mass index, body fat percentage and cardiorespiratory fitness. Active video games could be a good strategy to fight against childhood obesity. Clinical Trial: A protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, PROSPERO (CRD42020189138).
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