Effectiveness and acceptability of exergaming in people with mild cognitive impairment: protocol for an overview of systematic reviews and network meta-analysis.

Introduction: Exergaming shows great potential in the intervention of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, further research is needed on the use of exergaming in people with MCI. The current evidence of the use of exergaming in MCI has conflicting results. Which kind of exergaming is the most effective is uncertain. There is no overview of systematic reviews of exergaming in MCI, which makes the quality of the methods used for these systematic reviews unclear. The acceptability of the application of exergaming in people with MCI is uncertain. Therefore, this study will explore the effectiveness and acceptability of exergaming in MCI.

Methods and analysis: An overview of systematic reviews will be conducted according to the general principles of systematic reviewing methodology. A network meta-analysis will be conducted to compare the effectiveness of different exergames. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) checklist has been completed. We will retrieve systematic reviews or meta-analysis from six databases from inception to January 2025. A list of included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) will be retrieved from eligible systematic reviews. AMSTAR 2 will be used for methodological quality assessment. Methodological quality assessment of the included RCTs will be performed using "the Version 2 of the Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in RCTs" (RoB 2). We will use the PRISMA statement to report quality evaluation. The certainty of evidence that contributes to network estimation will be assessed through the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. Effectiveness and acceptability will be measured by standardized mean differences (SMDs) and odds ratios (ORs) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). In this study, we will adhere to established methods for conducting pairwise meta-analyses, followed by a network meta-analysis. Data analysis will be performed using Stata version 14.1.

Results: The results of this study will provide a comprehensive synthesis of evidence regarding the effectiveness and acceptability of exergaming in people with mild cognitive impairment.

Conclusion: The conclusions of this study will provide evidence-based recommendations to guide the implementation of exergaming interventions for individuals with mild cognitive impairment and provide valuable insights for guidelines and future research in this field.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42023421052.