Physical activity as a treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review

Table 1 Characteristics of published studies which assess the relationship between physical activity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (2010-2015)

Ref.	n	NAFLD assessment	Design	Parameter studied	Type of activity intervention	Nutrition intervention	Exercise
							Frequency	Intensity	Duration	Intervention duration
Hallsworth et al[26]	37	H-MRS	P	Sedentary and physical activity time	Activity monitor	No	NA	NA	NA	7 d
Gerber et al[14]	1263	Fatty liver index > 60	C	Level of physical activity	Activity monitor	No	NA	NA	NA	7 d
Oh et al[33]	18	US, H-MRS	P	Hepatic steatosis	Acceleration	No	2 × wk	NA	20 min	12 wk
Kawaguchi et al[32]	35	US	P	Hepatic steatosis	Hybrid	Yes	2 × wk	NA	20 min	12 wk
Kistler et al[34]	813	Liver biopsy	R	Physical activity, NAS	None (self-report)	No	NA	Inactive, moderate, vigorous	NA	NA
Haus et al[36]	17	H-MRS	P	IR, intrahepatic TG content	Aerobic	No	Consecutive days	80%-85% max heart rate	50-60 min	7 d
Promrat et al[38]	31	Liver biopsy	RCT	NAS	Aerobic	Yes	Weekly	Moderate	200 min	48 wk
Pugh et al[39]	13	US, liver enzymes	RCT	Cutaneous microvascular function	Aerobic	No	3 × wk	Moderate	30-45 min	16 wk
Pugh et al[40]	34	US, liver enzymes	RCT	Microvascular function	Aerobic	No	3 × wk	Moderate	30-45 min	16 wk
Sullivan et al[27]	18	H-MRS	RCT	Intrahepatic TG content, lipid kinetics	Aerobic	No	5 × wk	Moderate	30-60 min	16 wk
Jin et al[23]	120	Liver biopsy	R	Steatosis by histology	Aerobic	Yes	3 × wk	NA	20 min	No set length
Oh et al[28]	52	US	P	Hepatic steatosis	Aerobic	Yes	3 × wk	Max HR > 40%	90 min	3 mo
Sun et al[24]	1087	US, liver enzymes	RCT	Metabolic parameters	Aerobic	Yes	NA	NA	NA	12 mo
Zelber-Sagi et al[30]	82	US	RCT	Hepatic steatosis	Resistance	No	3 × wk	NA	40 min	3 mo
Hallsworth et al[29]	21	H-MRS	RCT	Intrahepatic lipid content	Resistance	No	3 × wk	NA	45-50 min	8 wk
Bacchi et al[43]	31	MRI	RCT	Hepatic steatosis	Resistance and aerobic	No	3 × wk	Moderate	60 min	4 mo
Eckard et al[21]	41	Liver biopsy	P	Histology	Resistance and aerobic	Yes	4-7 × wk	Moderate	20-60 min	6 mo
Oh et al[35]	169	US	RCT	Hepatic steatosis	Aerobic	Yes	Weekly	Vigorous	150->250 min	12 wk

NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; DM: Diabetes mellitus; US: Ultrasound; P: Prospective; R: Retrospective; C: Cross-sectional; RCT: Randomized controlled trial; NAS: NAFLD activity score; IR: Insulin resistance; TG: Triglycerides; NA: Not assessed; HR: Heart rate; H-MRS: Hydrogen-magnetic resonance spectroscopy; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.