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. 2014 Oct;3(5):311-8.
doi: 10.1089/g4h.2014.0005. Epub 2014 Aug 15.

How Effective Are Active Videogames Among the Young and the Old? Adding Meta-analyses to Two Recent Systematic Reviews

Jonathan van 't Riet  1 , Rik Crutzen  2 , Amy Shirong Lu  3
Affiliations

How Effective Are Active Videogames Among the Young and the Old? Adding Meta-analyses to Two Recent Systematic Reviews

Jonathan van 't Riet et al. Games Health J. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: Two 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 methods: All 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]).

Results: The 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.

Conclusions: The 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.

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Figures

<b>FIG. 1.</b>
FIG. 1.
Forest plot for the studies in children/adolescents.,,,,
<b>FIG. 2.</b>
FIG. 2.
Forest plot for the studies in the elderly.,,,,,
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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