WHO: 24 participants with cognitive deficits due to a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, able to engage in moderate physical activity.
WHY: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is known to cause deficits in cognitive function, even under effective pharmacological viral load suppression. Cognitive dysfunction in patients with HIV is frequent and has a detrimental impact on their everyday personal and professional life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate two sets of computerized exercises combining cognitive and physical effort to see if they can improve executive function in patients with an HIV infection.
WHAT: Study participants first undergo cognitive and physical assessments. Additional questionnaires will assess mood, everyday life cognition, function and quality. This will be followed by a 6 week training period with 2 training sessions a week. The effect of the physical and cognitive training will be measured in a post-training evaluation session. Six months after completion of the training, the study will evaluate cognitive and physical abilities of participants to study long-term effects of the respective training program.
WHERE: Both the evaluation and the training sessions will be conducted on the premises of the Lausanne University Hospital (Rue du Bugnon 46, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland)
Age ≥ 18 years
Diagnosis of an HIV infection
Undetectable HIV load in the serum (<50 copies/mL) over the last 6 months prior to study inclusion.
Color Trail Test (CTT) Flexibility Index
Clinically defined cause for cognitive deficits other than HIV
Diagnosis of severe depression according to a cut-off score of ≥ 27 of the Center for epidemiological studies - depression questionnaire (CES-D; Metral et al., 2020; Radloff, 1977)
Diagnosis of HIV-associated dementia according to the Frascati Critera (Antinori et al., 2007)
Current psychotic symptoms according to the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I. - L, Sheehan et al., 1998) subscale of psychotic symptoms