Effectiveness of virtual reality in children and young adults with cerebral palsy: a systematic review of randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the main causes of disability in childhood. Virtual reality (VR) has been used as a treatment option in this population, however its effectiveness is unclear.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of VR in patients with CP.

METHODS

We conducted electronic searches in EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane library, PEDro, AMED, PsycoINFO, and LILACS databases and trial site registries such as ClinicalTrials.gov and ICTRP. We included randomized controlled trials that tested the use of VR alone or in combination with other interventions compared to more conventional rehabilitation or usual care in individuals with CP. The primary outcomes were upper and lower limb function, postural control, and balance. The secondary outcomes included global motor function, perception, cognition and spatial functions, motivation, motor learning, and adverse events. Two independent reviewers extracted and assessed included articles for risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. We use a meta-analysis with random effect model whenever possible. We analyzed the quality of evidence using theGRADE approach.

RESULTS

We included 38 trials (pooled n = 1233 participants) in this review. There is very low quality of evidence that VR plus conventional rehabilitation is better than conventional rehabilitation for upper limb function. There is also very low quality evidence that VR alone is no better than conventional rehabilitation for upper and lower limb function. No adverse events were observed among the 10 trials that provided information on this outcome.

CONCLUSION

At present we have very limited to limited confidence in effect estimation for utilization of VR in this population. Future studies may change our confidence in results and effect estimates.

PROTOCOL REGISTRATION

PROSPERO CRD 42018102759.