The effects of active video games on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in overweight or obese children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Comeras-Chueca ◽  
Jorge Marin-Puyalto ◽  
Angel Matute-Llorente ◽  
German Vicente-Rodriguez ◽  
Jose Antonio Casajus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Body Fat Percentage ◽  
Fat Percentage ◽  
Motor Competence ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Active Video ◽  
Health Related

BACKGROUND Childhood obesity is one of the most important public health problems of the 21st century and active-video games have been proposed as a good alternative to exercise and are being investigated to find out their effectiveness against childhood obesity. OBJECTIVE to summarize the current research and extract conclusions about the effects of active video games 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 non-randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of programs using active video games on health-related physical fitness and motor competence of children and adolescents with overweight and obesity. Two different quality assessment tools were used to measure the risk of bias for randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria and the variables of interest were body mass index, body fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness, waist circumference, fat-free mass, muscular fitness and motor competence. A meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS Positive effects were found for body mass index and body fat percentage, favouring the active video games group compared with a control group with no intervention (MD, -0.209; 95% IC, -0.388, -0.031; an d MD, -0.879; 95% IC, -1.138, -0.602, respectively). Positive effects seem to be found for cardiorespiratory fitness. The effects of interventions with active video games on muscular fitness, fat-free mass and waist circumference and motor competence are unclear. CONCLUSIONS Programs using active video games showed positive effects on body mass index, body fat percentage and cardiorespiratory fitness. Active video games could be a good strategy to fight against childhood obesity. CLINICALTRIAL A protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, PROSPERO (CRD42020189138).

scholarly journals The Effects of Active Video Games on Health-Related Physical Fitness and Motor Competence in Children and Adolescents with Healthy Weight: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 6965
Author(s):  
Cristina Comeras-Chueca ◽  
Jorge Marin-Puyalto ◽  
Angel Matute-Llorente ◽  
German Vicente-Rodriguez ◽  
Jose A. Casajus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Motor Competence ◽  
Muscular Fitness ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Active Video ◽  
Health Related

(1) Background: Poor levels of physical fitness and motor skills are problems for today’s children. Active video games (AVG) could be an attractive strategy to help address them. The aim was to investigate the effects of AVG on health-related physical fitness and motor competence in children and adolescents with healthy weight. (2) Methods: Randomized and non-randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of AVG programs on health-related physical fitness and motor competence were included. Two different quality assessment tools were used to measure the risk of bias. Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria and the variables of interest were body mass index (BMI), body fat, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular fitness and motor competence. (3) Results: AVG interventions seem to have benefits in BMI when lasting longer than 18 weeks (SMD, −0.590; 95% IC, −1.071, −0.108) and in CRF (SMD, 0.438; 95% IC, 0.022, 0.855). AVG seems to be a promising tool to improve muscular fitness and motor competence but the effects are still unclear due to the lack of evidence. (4) Conclusions: AVG seem to be an effective tool for improving some components of health-related physical fitness and motor competence in healthy-weight children and adolescents, but the effect on some fitness components needs further research. Therefore, AVG may be included as a strategy to improve health.

scholarly journals Active Video Games for Improving Mental Health and Physical Fitness—An Alternative for Children and Adolescents during Social Isolation: An Overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isis Kelly dos Santos ◽  
Rafaela Catherine da Silva Cunha de Medeiros ◽  
Jason Azevedo de Medeiros ◽  
Paulo Francisco de Almeida-Neto ◽  
Dianne Cristina Souza de Sena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Moderate Quality ◽  
Active Video

The aim of this study was to synthesize the evidence on the effects of active video games (AVGs) on mental health, physical fitness and body composition of children and adolescents. A search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed; MEDLINE (by Ovid); SportDiscus, Cochrane library systematic reviews (CENTRAL) and EMBASE with no language restrictions during October 2020. Reviews on the use of AVGs were included in the study. We use the AMSTAR (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews) scale to analyze the methodological quality of the studies. Seventeen systematic reviews and meta-analyzes were included on the effects of AVGs with 30 to 4728 children and adolescents of both sexes with ages ranging from 6 to 19 years. In five studies, the population was overweight or obese. Regarding the quality, 12 studies were of moderate quality, two had high quality, two had low quality and one showed very low quality. The analyzed data indicate that the use of AVGs with a frequency of 1 to 3 times a week with durations of between 10 and 90 min per day shows positive effects on mental health and physical functioning. There was moderate quality evidence that AVGs can result in benefits for self-esteem, increased energy expenditure, physical activity and reduced body mass index in children and adolescents who used AVGs in the home environment. Further research is needed on this tool to help in the process of social isolation and consequently in promoting health and well-being.

scholarly journals Effect of Active Video Games on Healthy Children’s Fundamental Motor Skills and Physical Fitness: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 8264
Author(s):  
Wenxi Liu ◽  
Nan Zeng ◽  
Daniel J. McDonough ◽  
Zan Gao
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Object Control ◽  
Fundamental Motor Skills ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Active Video ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Objective: The present study aimed to synthesize the most updated literature regarding the casual evidence of the effects of active video games (AVGs) on fundamental motor skills (FMS; locomotor skills and object control skills) and physical fitness among healthy children. Methods: Electronic databases were searched through October 2020. Peer-reviewed randomized control trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental designs examining the effectiveness of AVGs on FMS and physical fitness development among healthy children (3–12 years) were screened. Results: A total of nine RCTs and one quasi-experimental study were included. Of the five studies examining the effect of AVGs on FMS, two reported significant improvements, while three reported no significant improvements in motor skills development as compared to control. Of the five studies assessing the effects of AVGs on physical fitness, four reported significant improvements in physical fitness such as balance, agility, and speed, whereas one reported significant improvements in skill-related executive function, but not in physical competence. Conclusions: Overall, the current available evidence supports AVGs as an effective means to improve physical fitness, such as balance, postural stability, and agility, among healthy children. However, the findings of AVGs on healthy children’s object control and locomotor skills remain inconclusive.

Active and Sedentary Video Game Time

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Scharrer ◽  
Adam Zeller
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Relative Time ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Active Video

This study used survey methodology to measure opinions of 13- to 15-year-olds (N = 176) about sedentary and active video games and the relative amount of time spent with those games, and evaluated correlations between time spent with those two types of games and the body mass index (BMI) of the respondent. Results showed no evidence of any correlation between BMI and relative time devoted to video game usage by type of game (active versus sedentary), nor any support for a correspondence between overall levels of time spent with video games and BMI. Yet, the data did point to a nonlinear association in which those who devoted more than 50% of the total time they spend with video games on sedentary games had a higher BMI than those who spent less than 50% of their video gaming time with sedentary games. Important gender differences also emerged in the adolescents’ opinions of active versus sedentary games.

A Systematic Review of Active Video Games on Youth’s Body Composition and Physical Activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (09) ◽  
pp. 561-573
Author(s):  
Zan Gao ◽  
Nan Zeng ◽  
Daniel J. McDonough ◽  
Xiwen Su
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Body Composition ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Obese Youth ◽  
Active Video ◽  
Objectively Measured

AbstractIn the past decade, active video games (AVGs) have started to find their way into communities, schools, and homes as a possible solution to promote physical activity (PA) and prevent childhood obesity. However, the evidence regarding its effectiveness on body composition and objectively measured PA in youth remains inconclusive. Thus, a systematic review on this topic is needed. This review synthesizes effects of AVGs on body composition and PA in youth. The initial search yielded 260 articles from 10 databases and 18 randomized-controlled trials were included after evaluating against eligibility and removing duplicates. Overall, AVGs showed positive effects in improving body composition and PA in overweight/obese youth as compared to the control conditions with only 2 studies displaying neutral effects on these outcomes as compared to traditional PA or comparison programs. For healthy youth, more than half of the studies (n = 10) demonstrated neutral effects of AVGs on these outcomes whereas only 6 yielded positive effects compared to the control conditions. Further, one study indicated that the control condition observed greater improvement in body composition compared with an AVG intervention in healthy youth. In summary, AVGs are deemed a promising addition to promote PA and health among overweight/obese youth with the goal of fighting childhood obesity.

scholarly journals Physical fitness is inversely related with body mass index and body fat percentage in soccer players aged 16-18 years

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 470-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pantelis Nikolaïdis
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
General Population ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Body Fat ◽  
Sport Participation ◽  
Soccer Players ◽  
Body Fat Percentage ◽  
Fat Percentage ◽  
Increased Risk

Introduction: Adolescents are at increased risk for the development of obesity, while sport has been suggested as an effective means against adolescent obesity. The objectives of this study were to examine (a) the prevalence of overweight/obesity, (b) the relationship between body mass index and body fat percentage, and (c) the association between body mass index, body fat and physical fitness in soccer players aged 16-18 yr. Material and Methods: Members (n=109, aged 17.0?0.5 yr) of competitive soccer clubs were examined for physical and physiological characteristics. Results: Based on international body mass index cut-off points, 18.3% (n=20) of participants were classified as overweight. Body mass index was highly correlated with body fat percentage (r=0.70, p<0.001). Body fat percentage was in inverse relationship with aerobic power (r=-0.21, p=0.029), maximal anaerobic power (r=-0.20, p=0.044) and local muscular endurance (r=-0.39, p<0.001), while corresponding values of body mass index were non-significant (r=-0.05, p=0.614; r=0.03, p=0.771; r=-0.12, p=0.220, respectively). However, both body fat percentage and body mass index were inversely related with fatigue index of Wingate anaerobic test (r=-0.26, p=0.009; r=-0.29, p=0.003, respectively). Conclusions: The strong relationship between body mass index and body fat percentage suggest the further use of body mass index in adolescent soccer players. The findings confirmed previous observations on general population about the negative effect of overweight and fatness on physical fitness. The prevalence of overweight among participants was similar with what is observed in general population. Therefore, sport participation cannot guarantee physiological body mass and body composition, and it is necessary to prescribe exercise targeting body mass and fat control.

scholarly journals The Active Video Game Paradox

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Sam Kirk ◽  
Andrew Manley
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Active Video Games ◽  
Time Problem ◽  
Active Video ◽  
Commercial Market ◽  
Qualitative Exploration

Evidence shows inactivity and obesity are a substantial global burden, economically and physiologically. Sedentary screen time strongly contributes to this burden. Sedentary screen time is often achieved through video game play. Active video games (AVGs) tried to solve the screen time problem. AVGs work, having small to moderate positive effects on activity levels and body composition changes. However, they perform consistently poorly on the commercial market. This represents a paradox: AVGs work pragmatically, yet underperform commercially, limiting their impact practically. The purpose of this study was to explore this paradox with the aim of understanding how AVGs compare to non-active video games (NAVGs), based on gameplay experience. Findings revealed that AVGs have a significant negative comparison to NAVGs. Qualitative exploration highlighted several important considerations; gamer motivation, the lack of quality and variety in AVGs, the stereotype in AVGs, and the practical limitations of the hardware that supports AVGs. Perception of an augmented reality platform, a potential solution to the issues, was found to be positive.

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