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

Abstract

Background: Childhood 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.

Objective: The 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.

Methods: The 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.

Results: Positive 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.

Conclusions: AVG programs showed positive effects on BMI, body fat percentage, and CRF. AVG could be a good strategy to combat childhood obesity.

Keywords: BMI; active videogames; body fat; cardiorespiratory fitness; exergaming; motor skills; muscle.