Abstract

In general, physical activity (PA) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have an inverse association. However, studies assessing the impact of the widely accepted Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PA Guidelines) on NAFLD are lacking. We performed a serial, cross-sectional analysis among adults by using the 2007-2016 United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. NAFLD and advanced fibrosis were defined by using various noninvasive panels. A PA questionnaire assessed the leisure-time PA, occupation-related PA, transportation-related PA, and total sitting time as sedentary behavior. PA was categorized according to the PA Guidelines. Of the 24,588 individuals (mean age 47.4 years; 47.9% males), leisure-time PA (=150 minutes/week) demonstrated 40% lower odds of NAFLD, whereas transportation-related PA was associated with 33% risk reduction in NAFLD. Analysis of total PA and sitting times simultaneously showed a dose-response association between sitting time and NAFLD (P for trend <0.001). Compliance with the PA Guidelines was lower in NAFLD versus non-NAFLD. The trends in compliance with the PA Guidelines for any type of PA remained stable in NAFLD except for a downtrend in transportation-related PA. In contrast, an improvement in compliance with the PA Guidelines for leisure-time was noted in the non-NAFLD cohort. Although PA demonstrated 10% stronger association with risk reduction of NAFLD in women, women showed a lower tendency of meeting the PA guidelines. Trends in total sitting time increased significantly regardless of NAFLD status. Conclusion: Sedentary behavior emerged as an independent predictor of NAFLD. Overall compliance with the PA Guidelines was lower in the NAFLD cohort with sex- and ethnicity-based differences. Implementation of these observations in clinical practice may improve our understanding as well as clinical outcomes.

View details for DOI 10.1002/hep.31158

View details for PubMedID 32012316