Exergames have attracted increasing attention from both the public and researchers. Although previous systematic reviews provided evidence that exergame training is beneficial for improving balance or mobility in older adults, multidimensional physical function measurements, including balance, upper body strength, lower body strength, aerobic endurance, and gait, might help us achieve more robust and reliable results. This meta-analysis aims to quantify the effects of exergame training on overall and specific physical function in healthy older adults. We systematically searched exergame training studies published between January 1985 and June 2021. Forty-eight studies were included in the present meta-analysis, with a total of 1099 participants included in the training group and 1098 participants in the control group. Random-effects meta-analyses found that older adults obtained a small benefit in overall physical function performance (g = 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.33 to 0.53), moderate benefits in balance (g = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.46 to 0.71), upper body strength (g = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.20 to 1.10), lower body strength (g = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.37 to 0.65), and aerobic endurance (g = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.44 to 0.86), a small benefit in gait (g = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.08 to 0.59), and negligible effects on upper body flexibility (g = 0.13, 95% CI = -0.06 to 0.32) and lower body flexibility (g = 0.10, 95% CI = -0.45 to 0.67) from exergame training. The mini-mental state examination score was positively associated with the overall training efficacy (β = 0.08, P = 0.01), while body mass index and the sample size in the training group were negatively associated with the overall training efficacy (β = -0.01, P < 0.01; β = -0.004, P < 0.01). The current meta-analytic findings revealed that exergame training produced general benefits for overall physical function and different effects on specific physical function domains in older adults.
Keywords: Exergames; Meta-analysis; Older adults; Physical function.