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

• Main Authors: Cristina Comeras-Chueca, Jorge Marin-Puyalto, Angel Matute-Llorente, German Vicente-Rodriguez, Jose A. Casajus, Alex Gonzalez-Aguero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: exergames; fitness; motor competence; youth; Pediatric Inactivity Triad
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6965

(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.