title: Gotta catch'em all! Pokémon GO and physical activity among young adults: difference in differences study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the effect of playing Pokémon GO on the number of steps taken daily up to six weeks after installation of the game.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study using online survey data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey participants of Amazon Mechanical Turk (n=1182) residing in the United States, aged 18 to 35 years and using iPhone 6 series smartphones.
  
  
  METHODS
  Number of daily steps taken each of the four weeks before and six weeks after installation of Pokémon GO, automatically recorded in the "Health" application of the iPhone 6 series smartphones and reported by the participants. A difference in difference regression model was used to estimate the change in daily steps in players of Pokémon GO compared with non-players.
  
  
  RESULTS
  560 (47.4%) of the survey participants reported playing Pokémon GO and walked on average 4256 steps (SD 2697) each day in the four weeks before installation of the game. The difference in difference analysis showed that the daily average steps for Pokémon GO players during the first week of installation increased by 955 additional steps (95% confidence interval 697 to 1213), and then this increase gradually attenuated over the subsequent five weeks. By the sixth week after installation, the number of daily steps had gone back to pre-installation levels. No significant effect modification of Pokémon GO was found by sex, age, race group, bodyweight status, urbanity, or walkability of the area of residence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pokémon GO was associated with an increase in the daily number of steps after installation of the game. The association was, however, moderate and no longer observed after six weeks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA khowe@mail.harvard.edu.|Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Howe
authors.affiliation: Center for Health and Decision Science, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suharlim
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Howe
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Rimm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D063731:Mobile Applications; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D000068997:Smartphone; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D018910:Video Games; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult