Effectiveness of virtual reality therapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: To evaluate the effect of virtual reality therapy on anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults by Meta-analysis. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted by PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane (from inception to November 2024). Two researchers independently performed literature screening, quality evaluation and data extraction, and Stata16.0 and Review Man 5.4 software were used for Meta-analysis. Results: A total of 33 studies involving 3182 adolescents and adults with anxiety disorders were included. The results of Meta-analysis showed that compared with conventional interventions, virtual reality therapy significantly improved the symptoms and level of anxiety in patients with anxiety disorder [SMD = -0.95, 95%CI (-1.22,-0.69), Z = 7.05, P < 0.00001]. Conclusion: The current findings suggest that VR therapy interventions have a positive effect on improving the anxiety state of patients with anxiety disorders. The aforementioned research findings must be confirmed by more high-caliber studies due to the number and quality limitations of the contained literature. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display, identifier CRD42024574772.