SynthesisJournal of clinical nursing2025
The Effects of Exergaming on the Depressive Symptoms of People With Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical nursing, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Enhancing cognition in older adults with interactive wall exergames.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness, acceptability, adherence, and safety of exergaming for depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDepressive symptoms are common among people with dementia (PWD). Exergaming consisting of combined cognitive and physical training in gaming is increasingly used to alleviate their depressive symptoms in research. With its potential synergistic neurobiological and psychosocial effects on reducing depressive symptoms among PWD, this review aimed to understand its effectiveness and contents.
methodsThis is a systematic review of the effectiveness of exergames on depressive symptoms among older adults with dementia. A search was conducted on 7 May 2024 of the online databases CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PubMed and the China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database (CNKI). The methodological quality of randomised controlled trials (RCT) and quasi-experimental studies was assessed with RoB2 and ROBINS-I, respectively. A meta-analysis of the included RCTs was conducted.
resultsSix studies consisting of four RCTs and two quasi-experimental studies involving 235 participants with various stages of dementia were included. The meta-analysis showed a significant overall improvement in depression with a large effect size (SMD = 1.46, 95% CI = -2.50, -0.43; p = 0.006). Despite high heterogeneity (I
conclusionExergames could be effective at improving the depressive symptoms of older adults with dementia. Yet, a moderate-to-severe risk of bias shows a rigorous study should be conducted in the future. IMPLICATIONS FOR PATIENT CARE: This study provides evidence for healthcare professionals and informal caregivers to use exergames to address depressive symptoms in PWD. REVIEW REGISTRATION: The review was registered on PROSPERO with the reference CRD42022372762.
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.