ArticleGames for health journal2014
How Effective Are Active Videogames Among the Young and the Old? Adding Meta-analyses to Two Recent Systematic Reviews.
Article in Games for health journal, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths' interactions with electronic screens.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Active Video Game Interventions Targeting Physical Activity Behaviors: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Exergames for falls prevention in sheltered homes: a feasibility study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- To Pause With a Cliffhanger or a Temporary Closure? The Differential Impact of Serial Versus Episodic Narratives on Children's Physical Activity Behaviors.Communication research · 2025Article
- Exploring the Impact of the "RUEU?" Game on Greek Students' Perceptions of and Attitudes to European Identity.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The impact of narratives and active video games on long-term moderate-to-vigorous physical activity: A randomized controlled trial protocol.Contemporary clinical trials · 2020Article
- The Effect of Narrative on Physical Activity via Immersion During Active Video Game Play in Children: Mediation Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Education on tick bite and Lyme borreliosis prevention, aimed at schoolchildren in the Netherlands: comparing the effects of an online educational video game versus a leaflet or no intervention.BMC public health · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTwo recent systematic reviews have surveyed the existing evidence for the effectiveness of active videogames in children/adolescents and in elderly people. In the present study, effect sizes were added to these systematic reviews, and meta-analyses were performed. MATERIALS AND
methodsAll reviewed studies were considered for inclusion in the meta-analyses, but only studies were included that investigated the effectiveness of active videogames, used an experimental design, and used actual health outcomes as the outcome measures (body mass index for children/adolescents [k=5] and functional balance for the elderly [k=6]).
resultsThe average effect of active videogames in children and adolescents was small and nonsignificant: Hedges' g=0.20 (95 percent confidence interval, -0.08 to 0.48). Limited heterogeneity was observed, and no moderator analyses were performed. For the effect of active videogames on functional balance in the elderly, the analyses revealed a medium-sized and significant effect of g=0.68 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.13-1.24). For the elderly studies, substantial heterogeneity was observed. Moderator analyses showed that there were no significant effects of using a no-treatment control group versus an alternative treatment control group or of using games that were especially created for health-promotion purposes versus off-the-shelf games. Also, intervention duration and frequency, sample size, study quality, and dropout did not significantly moderate the effect of active videogames.
conclusionsThe results of these meta-analyses provide preliminary evidence that active videogames can have positive effects on relevant outcome measures in children/adolescents and elderly individuals.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.