JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Cognitive impairment is a mental disorder that commonly affects elderly people. Serious games, which are games that have a purpose other than entertainment, have been used as a non-pharmacological intervention for improving cognitive abilities. The effectiveness and safety of serious games in improving cognitive abilities have been investigated by several systematic reviews; however, they are limited by design and methodological weaknesses.

Objective:

This study aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of serious games in improving cognitive abilities among elderly people with cognitive impairment.

Methods:

A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted. Eight electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Google Scholar. We also screened reference lists of the included studies and relevant reviews as well as checked studies citing our included studies. Two reviewers independently carried out the study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, and quality of evidence appraisal. We used a narrative and statistical approach, as appropriate, to synthesize results of the included studies.

Results:

Fifteen studies met the eligibility criteria of 466 citations retrieved. Of those, 14 RCTs were eventually included in meta-analyses. We found that, regardless of their type, serious games are more effective than no intervention (P=0.04) and conventional exercises (P=0.002) in improving global cognition among elderly people with cognitive impairment. Further, a subgroup analysis showed that cognitive training games are more effective than no intervention (P=0.05) and conventional exercises (P<0.001) in improving global cognition among elderly people with cognitive impairment. Another subgroup analysis demonstrated that exergames are as effective as no intervention and conventional exercises (P=0.38) in improving global cognition among elderly people with cognitive impairment. Although some studies found adverse events from using serious games, the number of adverse events was comparable between groups.

Conclusions:

Serious games (in general) and cognitive training games have the potential to improve global cognition among elderly people with cognitive impairment. However, our findings remain inconclusive because the quality of evidence in all meta-analyses was very low, mainly due to the risk of bias raised in the majority of the included studies, high heterogeneity of the evidence, and imprecision of total effect sizes. Therefore, psychologists, psychiatrists, and patients should consider offering serious games as complementary and not a substitute to existing interventions until further, more robust evidence is available. Further studies are needed to assess the effect of exergames, the safety of serious games, and their long-term effect. Clinical Trial: Serious games; Cognitive training; Exergames; Mild cognitive impairment; Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Global cognition; Systematic reviews; Meta-analysis