Exercise May Lower Clotting Risk in Patients With NASH

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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