Exergames in Childhood Obesity Treatment: A Systematic Review

Federica Valeriani, Carmela Protano, Daniela Marotta, Giorgio Liguori, Vincenzo Romano Spica, Giuliana Valerio, Matteo Vitali and Francesca Gallè
Additional contact information
Federica Valeriani: Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, 00135 Rome, Italy
Carmela Protano: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Daniela Marotta: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Giorgio Liguori: Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Naples “Parthenope”, 80133 Naples, Italy
Vincenzo Romano Spica: Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, 00135 Rome, Italy
Giuliana Valerio: Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Naples “Parthenope”, 80133 Naples, Italy
Matteo Vitali: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Francesca Gallè: Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Naples “Parthenope”, 80133 Naples, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: In the last decade, active video games (exergames) have been proposed in obesity prevention and treatment as a potential tool to increase physical activity. This review was aimed to assess the possible role of exergames in reducing weight-related outcomes among overweight/obese children and/or adolescents. The databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus were interrogated to detect controlled studies involving healthy overweight/obese children and adolescents in interventions based exclusively on exergames. Out of a total of 648 articles found, 10 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The included studies differ for duration, setting and type of intervention, frequency of active game sessions, and outcomes considered. Seven out of ten studies reported better outcomes in children/adolescents involved in the interventions, with significant differences between groups in four, while three studies found better outcomes in control groups. These results suggest a possible positive effect of active video games on weight-related outcomes in obese children and adolescents. However, further research is still needed to define if they can be effectively used in childhood obesity treatment and which may be the most effective approach. The potentiality of the new digital media in this field should be explored.

Keywords: obesity; overweight; children; adolescent; exergames; active games; weight loss (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4938/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4938/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4938-:d:549375

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().