Resistance training study reported cognitive and mood improvements in people with HIV
A small randomized trial compared resistance training with a control group in people with HIV. Reported cognitive and depression improvements came with unclear statistical reporting and no significant blood-protein change.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Among people with HIV, the authors reported improved cognitive test performance and fewer depression symptoms after resistance training, while detecting no statistically significant change in the measured blood protein. The trial included a control group, but the abstract's unclear reporting of depression statistics limits how confidently that result can be interpreted.
The abstract calls depression improvement significant but reports P > 0.001, which does not establish significance by itself. It gives no numerical cognitive effect and does not explain the uncertainty figures accompanying depression changes.
Separate outcome measures
Cognition was assessed with the Stroop Test, while depression symptoms were measured with the Beck Depression Inventory questionnaire. These were separate outcomes; the abstract does not provide enough detail to judge the size of cognitive changes.
The blood-protein result
Researchers also measured brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, a protein in blood. No statistically significant change was detected. That finding does not prove its level remained identical or explain the reported cognitive and depression results.
The original publication
Resistance Training Improves Cognitive Function and Depression Without Changing BDNF Levels in People Living with HIV: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.
de Souza DC, Marchini KB, Nunhes PM et al.
AIDS Behav · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40711680
- Record checked
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