Speed of Processing Training in Adults With HIV

Completed · Not applicable · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: HIV, Cognition - Other, Impaired Driving

In brief

As people age with HIV, the synergistic effects with normal age-related cognitive declines will accentuate and/or accelerate declines in cognitive functioning which can be detected as early in one's 40s. Although interventions are needed to protect/improve cognitive functioning, one intervention already exists to improve speed of processing. NINR/NIA (January 14, 2014) announced that Speed of Processing Training used in the ACTIVE Study (N = 2,802 community-dwelling older adults) has the ability to enable "older people to maintain their cognitive abilities as they age" even 10 years after training. As shown in the ACTIVE Study, this intervention uniquely improves driving, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), health-related quality of life, self-rated health, internal locus of control, and protects one from depression; these represent areas of needed intervention for adults with HIV as well. In adults with HIV, previous pilot studies likewise indicate speed of processing declines are associated with poorer driving simulator performance and more self-reported at-fault automobile crashes; such speed of processing declines on driving alone represent a significant public health concern. These studies also demonstrated that Speed of Processing Training improved this cognitive ability and translated into improved performance on a timed measure of IADLs. Based on prior research, this RCT proposal consists of a pre-post two-year longitudinal experimental design whereby 264 adults with HIV, 40+ years and diagnosed with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder, will be randomly assigned to one of three training conditions: 1) 10 hours of laboratory-based Speed of Processing Training, 2) 20 hours of laboratory-based Speed of Processing Training, or 3) 10 hours of a standardized computer-contact control (sham) condition. AIM 1: Determine whether 10 vs 20 hours of speed of processing training will improve this cognitive ability at post-test, year 1, and year 2 after baseline. AIM 2: Determine whether 10 vs 20 hours of speed of processing training will improve everyday functioning at post-test, year 1, and year 2 after baseline. Exploratory AIM: Determine whether improvement in speed in speed of processing and/or everyday functioning over time mediate improvement quality of life (e.g., depression, health related quality of life).

Key facts

Study ID: NCT02758093
Run by: University of Alabama at Birmingham
People needed: 217
Starts: 2016-09-28
Expected to finish: 2020-03-11
Last updated by the study team: 2021-06-07

Who can join

Age: 40 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Since driving-related factors are being examined as one of the outcomes of the intervention, participants must be licensed drivers when entering the study.
Men and/or women
Must be 40+ years
English speaking
Have HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND) or borderline HAND (defined using Frascati criteria).

You may not qualify if…

Because this study is longitudinal, participants not living in stable housing (e.g., halfway house) will be excluded.
Potential participants will be excluded if they indicate that they are planning to move outside of the Birmingham metropolitan area within the next 2 years.
Participants with significant neuromedical co-morbidities (e.g., schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, mental retardation)
Legally blind or deaf (vision confirmed at baseline)
Currently undergoing radiation or chemotherapy
A history of brain trauma with a loss of consciousness greater than 30 minutes
Those who have participated in our pilot studies and were randomized to the Speed of Processing Training will be excluded.

Where it is running

University of Alabama at Birmingham — Birmingham, Alabama, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.