Chicago trial will test exercise to keep older women with HIV from frailty

The University of Illinois Chicago has registered a new study that will test whether a physical activity program can help older women living with HIV stay strong and keep moving as they age.¹ The record appeared on ClinicalTrials.gov, the US government’s public list of medical studies, on November 6, 2026.¹ The study has not started. Its listed status is “not yet recruiting,” and no one has been enrolled.¹

According to its title, the study is about “adapting an evidence-based physical activity intervention to prevent frailty and functional decline in older women living with HIV.”¹ Frailty here means becoming weaker and less able to handle everyday physical tasks. Functional decline means losing the ability to do things like walk, climb stairs or get up from a chair.

What was registered

The study is listed as interventional, which means researchers will give people a program and track what happens, rather than only observing them.¹ The program is called Positively Fit and Strong! and is classed as a behavioral intervention: it changes what people do, not what medicine they take.¹ The registry describes it as a physical activity and health education intervention.¹

The plan is to compare people who get the program with people in a control group, who do not.¹ The record says the study will look at both “effectiveness and implementation.”¹ In plain terms, that means two questions: does the program help, and can it be delivered well in practice?

The study plans to enroll about 210 people. The registry marks that number as an estimate.¹ The conditions listed are mobility impairment and frailty.¹ Because it tests a program rather than a drug, the study has no drug “phase,” the numbered stages used for medicines.¹

What the study will measure

The main result the researchers will track is leg strength in the lower body, measured with a sit-to-stand test.¹ Tests like this look at how well a person can rise from a seated position, a simple everyday movement that depends on leg strength.

Leg strength will be checked at the start of the study and again at 3, 6 and 9 months.¹ That schedule lets the team see whether any change appears early, grows over time, or fades.

The timeline is long. The study is set to start in June 2027. Its primary completion date, when data for the main measure should be finished, is May 2030.¹ Results have not been posted, because the study has not begun.¹

What it does not show yet

This is a plan, not a finding. A registry record tells readers what researchers intend to do. It says nothing about whether the program will help.

Several things are still unknown from the public record:

• The details of the program. The registry summary names physical activity and health education but does not describe the exercises, how often sessions run, or how long the program lasts.¹
• What the control group gets. The record says outcomes will be compared with a control group but does not say what that group receives.¹
• Other outcomes. The registry text provided lists leg strength as the main measure.¹ Whether a gain in leg strength would lead to fewer falls, better daily function or less frailty over the years is a separate question a 9-month measure cannot fully answer.
• The final size. The figure of 210 is an estimate and may change once recruiting begins.¹

Who is behind it

The University of Illinois Chicago is listed as the sponsor.¹ The registry text does not name an outside funder or the lead investigators.

The program’s name echoes Fit & Strong!, an exercise program run out of the same university.² The registry text itself does not spell out that link, so readers should treat it as a likely connection rather than a confirmed one. The study’s title says it is adapting an existing “evidence-based” program.¹

Fit & Strong! has a long funding history, according to the university’s program website. It was first developed and tested with money from the Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Behavior Change, which is backed by the US National Institute on Aging.² The site lists an efficacy trial funded by the National Institute on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease, and an effectiveness trial from 2003 to 2008 funded by the National Institute on Aging on exercise adherence in older adults with osteoarthritis, a common form of joint wear.²

The site also lists later projects. They include a comparison trial of the usual program against a “Fit and Strong Plus!” version from 2012 to 2018, a version for adults who are visually impaired from 2015 to 2018, Spanish and Portuguese translations, an online maintenance program begun in 2020, and an Illinois Department of Public Health project to widen its reach running since 2022.² The university’s page lists these grants and projects but does not report their results, so this article cannot say what those earlier studies found.²

How it fits the field

Exercise programs for people aging with HIV are not new. In 2021, the National Resource Center on Aging & HIV, a program of GMHC, ran an online 8-week exercise class for people aging with HIV from January 13 to March 3.³ Because of demand, a second cycle ran from March 10 to April 28.³ The center reported that 68 people registered for the first cycle from across the United States, plus one from London.³

That class was led by Margaret Danilovich, a physical therapist at Northwestern University, and drew on the Otago Exercise Program, an established program aimed at building strength and balance to prevent falls and other signs of frailty.³ The center said the exercises needed no equipment and grew harder over the weeks.³ It also said neuropathy (a nerve problem) often makes exercise challenging for people aging with HIV, and that the instructor offered modifications for it.³ That earlier effort was supported by US government grants, according to the center.³

The 2021 class was a community program, not a controlled trial, and it is separate from the new UIC study. The difference matters. A class can show that people want to take part. A trial with a control group is designed to test whether a program changes a measured result, such as leg strength, compared with people who did not get it.

The new study also focuses specifically on women. Its title targets older women living with HIV, rather than all older adults with HIV.¹

What to watch next

• Recruiting. The study is set to begin in June 2027.¹ A change in its registry status will show when enrollment opens.
• Program details. Updates to the registry record or a published study plan may describe the exercises, the health education sessions and what the control group receives.
• Results. Main data collection is planned to finish in May 2030.¹ Any findings on leg strength would come after that, and would need peer review before they can be weighed.
• Implementation findings. Because the study also looks at implementation, it may report whether the program is practical to run, not only whether it changes strength.¹

Biohack will follow this thread as the study moves forward.