ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2020
Video games and their associations with physical health: a scoping review.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reconceptualizing online gaming in emerging adulthood: a phenomenological study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- A Critical Appraisal of the Links Between Video Gaming, Lifestyle Factors, Diet and Eating Behaviour: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries and associated risk factors in Brazilian esports players: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults.Current pediatrics reports · 2026Review
- 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
- How much gaming is too much? An analysis based on psychological distress.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- Sleep Characteristics of an International Sample of Adult Gamers.Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2024Article
- Exploring the Impact of Gaming Habits on Sleep Patterns Among Young Adults in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Three measures of internet use, social media use and video game playing as predictors of insomnia during the pandemic among students.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A Systematic Approach to Treating Early Metabolic Disease and Prediabetes.Diabetes therapy : research, treatment and education of diabetes and related disorders · 2023Article
- Associations between sedentary behavior and health and the moderating role of physical activity in young people within a cross-sectional investigation.Preventive medicine reports · 2023Article
- Astaxanthin: Past, Present, and Future.Marine drugs · 2023Review
- Digital gaming, musculoskeletal, and related health hazards among adolescents and young adults.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2023Article
- Neurobiological Link between Stress and Gaming: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Evaluating Changes in Perceived Enjoyment throughout a 12-Week School-Based Exergaming Intervention.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The association of problematic gaming characteristics with dietary habits among Finnish vocational school students.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Media Consumption, Stress and Wellbeing of Video Game and eSports Players in Germany: The eSports Study 2020.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Where Do Online Games Fit into the Health Behaviour Ecology of Emerging Adults: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe objective of this scoping review is to investigate the possible links between the practice of video games and physical health. It seeks to answer the following question: What are the physical health consequences of playing video games in healthy video game player? and How is it currently investigated?.
methodsA scoping review was conducted to identify observational and experimental studies pertaining to our research question. Retrieved papers were screened using a two-phase method first involving a selection based on titles and abstracts. Then, potentially relevant studies were read and triaged. The final set of included studies was analysed, and data were subsequently extracted. Observational studies and experimental studies were assessed using the appropriate Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and data were synthetised according to specific physical health and related health behaviours.
resultsTwelve peer-reviewed articles were retained for further analyses. Results of this scoping review suggest preliminary evidence that time spent gaming is associated with some health outcomes indicators. Our results indicate preliminary evidence that increased gaming time is associated with higher body mass index and lower self-reported general health status. There is insufficient evidence to conclude on a possible association between gaming time and physical activity or sedentary behaviours, sleep or fatigue, musculoskeletal pain or dietary behaviours.
conclusionThe results of this sopping review suggest an association between increased video game playing time and a deterioration in some physical health indicators but available evidence is scarce, precluding from any strong conclusion.
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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.