Meta-Analysis of Immersive VR Training for Cognitive Frailty

Three randomized controlled trials with 344 participants form the basis of this systematic review and meta-analysis. The work, authored by Sensen Pan and published in April 2026, synthesizes evidence on the effects of immersive motor-cognitive virtual reality training on global cognition and physical frailty in older adults. It reports pooled effect sizes and assesses study quality using Cochrane and GRADE frameworks.

Use Cases

• Extract pooled effect sizes (SMD=0.50 for global cognition; MD=-0.26 for frailty) to quantify the efficacy of immersive VR interventions.
• Analyze heterogeneity metrics (I²=39% for cognition; I²=0% for frailty) from the included trials to assess consistency of findings.
• Review the risk-of-bias assessments conducted using Cochrane criteria to evaluate the methodological quality of the underlying evidence base.
• Reference the participant counts (n=344 for cognition; n=278 for frailty) from the synthesized trials for sample size planning in future studies.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific population (adults formally diagnosed with cognitive frailty) and intervention type (immersive/semi-immersive VR).
• Reports quantitative meta-analysis results including standardized mean differences, confidence intervals, and I² statistics for heterogeneity.
• Follows a registered protocol (PROSPERO CRD420251234169) and uses established methodological frameworks (Cochrane, GRADE).

Limitations

• The evidence base is very small, synthesizing results from only three randomized controlled trials.
• The dataset is a single 11.9 KB document, containing only the review's text and summary statistics, not the underlying trial data.
• The review notes variation in VR systems and intervention protocols across the included studies, limiting generalizability.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Sensen Pan.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials identified from five databases.

Time Range

Literature search conducted through March 09, 2026.

Freshness

The review includes literature searched through March 2026 and was last updated in April 2026.