ReviewJMIR serious games2021
Effects of Active Video Games on Health-Related Physical Fitness and Motor Competence in Children and Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in JMIR serious games, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 6 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lifestyle eHealth and mHealth Interventions for Children and Adolescents: Systematic Umbrella Review and Meta-Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Digital health, technology-driven or technology-assisted interventions for the management of obesity in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Digital motor intervention effects on physical activity performance of individuals with developmental disabilities: a systematic review.Disability and rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Exergaming on executive function and motor ability in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled 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
- An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths' interactions with electronic screens.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Active Video Gaming and Obesity in Children 6-12 Years Old: A Systematic Review.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Review
- Active Video Games to Improve Behavioral Intentions and Cognitive Function in Patients With Schizophrenia: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- Correlation Between Phase Angle and Body Composition, Strength and Nutritional Habits in Male Gamers.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Virtual reality sports to tackle pediatric obesity.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Efficacy of exergaming dance and aerobic dance on young adults' enjoyment, situational motivation, self-efficacy, and steps.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Effects of Exergames on Physical Fitness, Body Composition and Enjoyment in Children: A Six-Month Intervention Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Exploring the Design of Upper Limb Strength Training Through High-Intensity Interval Training Combined With Exergaming: Usability Study.JMIR serious games · 2024Article
- Prevalence and Prediction of Video Gaming Addiction Among Saudi Adolescents, Using the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GASA).Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- The Influence of Abdominal Adiposity and Physical Fitness on Obesity Status of Portuguese Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A Reusable Multiplayer Game for Promoting Active School Transport: Development Study.JMIR serious games · 2022Article
- Exploring the self-reported physical fitness and self-rated health, mental health disorders, and body satisfaction among Chinese adolescents: A cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChildhood obesity is one of the most important public health problems. Active video games (AVGs) have been proposed as an attractive alternative to increase energy expenditure and are being investigated to determine their effectiveness against childhood obesity.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to summarize the existing research and draw conclusions about the effects of AVGs on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.
methodsThe search strategy was applied to PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus, including randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials investigating the effects of AVG programs on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity. To measure the risk of bias in randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials, 2 different quality assessment tools were used. In total, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria, and the variables of interest were BMI, body fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), waist circumference, fat-free mass, muscular fitness, and motor competence. A meta-analysis was performed.
resultsPositive effects were found for BMI and body fat percentage, favoring the AVG group compared with a control group with no intervention (mean difference -0.209; 95% CI -0.388 to -0.031 vs mean difference -0.879; 95% CI -1.138 to -0.602). Positive effects seem to be observed for CRF. The effects of AVG interventions on muscular fitness, fat-free mass, waist circumference, and motor competence are unclear.
conclusionsAVG programs showed positive effects on BMI, body fat percentage, and CRF. AVG could be a good strategy to combat childhood obesity.
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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.