SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
Can Active Video Games Improve Physical Activity in Adolescents? A Review of RCT.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 10 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
37 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Digital Tools' Effectiveness on Physical Activity Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: Umbrella Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Mobile- and Web-Based Interventions for Promoting Healthy Diets, Preventing Obesity, and Improving Health Behaviors in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of active video games for promoting physical activity: an umbrella review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- Active video games for improving health-related physical fitness in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of active video games on physical activity among overweight and obese college students: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Childhood obesity risk increases with increased screen time: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Screen time increases overweight and obesity risk among adolescents: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.BMC primary care · 2022Pooled it
- Conceptual Ambiguity Surrounding Gamification and Serious Games in Health Care: Literature Review and Development of Game-Based Intervention Reporting Guidelines (GAMING).Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of providing access to a cycling exergaming platform on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health in adolescents: a randomised, controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Physical Activity, Body Composition, and Fitness Variables in Adolescents After Periods of Mandatory, Promoted or Nonmandatory, Nonpromoted Use of Step Tracker Mobile Apps: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Sex-Based Differences in Lifestyle Behaviours, Self-Esteem, and Academic Performance: A Structural Equation Model in High-Socioeconomic-Status School-Aged Youth from Southern Spain.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Exploring the perceptions and requirements of exergames for adolescents with depression: a qualitative study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- 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
- Electrophysiological Insights in Exergaming-Electroencephalography Data Recording and Movement Artifact Detection: Systematic Review.JMIR serious games · 2025Review
- Relationship of work-related and leisure-based screen time with obesity: a cross-sectional study on adults including older adults.Endocrine · 2025Article
- Influence of Gender, Parental Control, Academic Performance and Physical Activity Level on the Characteristics of Video Game Use and Associated Psychosocial Problems in Adolescents.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- From classrooms to controllers: how school closures shaped children's video gaming habits.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- [Consequences of digital media on the health of children and adolescents with a focus on the consumption of unhealthy foods].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Children and adolescents are not meeting the required federal physical activity (PA) guidelines established by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It is critical that a regular pattern of PA is established in their youth to ensure ongoing PA into adulthood. However, many programs implemented during adolescence have shown limited effects, stressing the need for more innovative approaches to generate more interest and maintenance of PA behavior in this age group. Active video games (AVGs) or exergaming may prove to be an innovate process to improve PA in children and adolescents. A literature review was conducted to explore if active video games or exergaming could be an effective intervention to improve physical activity in adolescents. Active video games, also called "exergames", are a category of video games that require movement or physical exertion to play the game. The methodology consisted of searching Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, ERIC, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. Inclusion criteria involved only youth aged 12 to 19 years, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and studies within the last 12 years. The following search terms were used: exergaming or active video games; physical activity or exercise; adolescents or youth; RCT or randomized clinical trial. The outcome indicates that exergaming or active video games can be an effective tool to improve PA in adolescents that will be more acceptable and sustainable than many conventional approaches.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.