Exercise benefits extend beyond liver-related outcomes, independent of weight loss or dietary change
TUESDAY, March 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Exercise may help patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) reduce their risk for developing blood clots, according to a study recently published in Hepatology.
Jonathan G. Stine, M.D., from Pennsylvania State University in Hershey, and colleagues randomly assigned patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH to either an exercise training program (18 patients) or standard clinical care (10 patients).
The researchers found that the plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 level was significantly decreased with exercise training versus standard clinical care (−40 versus +70 ng/mL). Exercise training was also associated with decreased magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF), with 40 percent of exercise participants having a ≥30 percent relative reduction in MRI-PDFF (histological response threshold) versus 13 percent among those receiving standard of care. Lastly, exercise training was associated with improved fitness (as measured by VO2 peak) versus standard clinical care.
“Independent of weight loss or dietary change, exercise training resulted in a significantly greater decrease in thrombotic risk than standard clinical care in patients with NASH,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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