The importance of Physical activities on health is not novel. Physical activity reduces the risk of liver cancer.
It is now known that physical activity, including walking and muscle-strengthening activities, are strongly associated with significantly reduced risk of cirrhosis-related death. New research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2019, reveals that chronic liver disease is increasing, partly due to the obesity epidemic. And currently, there are no guidelines for the optimal type of exercise for the prevention of cirrhosis-related mortality.
Researchers hope their findings will help provide specific exercise recommendations for patients at risk for cirrhosis and its complications.
“The benefit of exercise is not a new concept. However, the impact of exercise on mortality from cirrhosis and from liver cancer has not yet been explored on this scale,” said Dr. Tracey Simon, lead researcher on the study and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Boston.
“Our findings show that both walking and strength training contribute to substantial reductions in risk of cirrhosis-related death, which is significant because we know very little about modifiable risk factors.”
Simon and her team prospectively followed 68,449 women from the Nurses’ Health Study. And 48,748 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, without known liver disease at baseline.
Participants provided highly accurate data on physical activity. These including type and intensity, every two years from 1986 through 2012, which allowed researchers to prospectively
Researchers observed that adults in the highest quintile of weekly walking activity had a 73% lower risk for cirrhosis-related death than those in the lowest quintile. Further risk reduction was observed with combined walking and muscle-strengthening exercises.
With this research, it can be inferred that physical activity reduces the risk of liver cancer
