ABSTRACT
Background: Spectrum of liver pathology that develops in the absence of alcohol abuse or any otherpredisposing medical condition is being recognised as a major health issue, ranging from simple steatosisto florid cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Objectives: To study the association between level ofphysical activity, dietary pattern and lipid profile in subjects diagnosed with NAFLD compared with controls.Methods: The study was conducted with 33 persons diagnosed with NAFLD and 31 controls in the departmentof physiology with the support of the Department of Radio diagnosis of Pushpagiri Institute of MedicalSciences and Research Centre. Results: The level of physical activity as measured by MET score in theNAFLD group was 948.80±628.4 (Mean±SD) and 4475.77±3202.3 (Mean ±SD) in the control group with a pvalue of < 0.001. 26 out of 31 participants in the control group (83.9%) were having high level of physicalactivity and only 4 out of 33(12.1%) had high level of physical activity in the NAFLD group. Low level ofphysical activity was reported by 15 out of 33 participants in the NAFLD group as compared to none in thecontrol group. Moderate physical activity levels were reported by 14 out of 33 participants (42.4%) in theNAFLD group and 5 out of 31 participants 5(16.1%) in the control group and the difference is statisticallysignificant (p<0.001). The calorie consumption in the NAFLD group was 2576.48±364.41 (Mean ± SD) and2305.19±323.35 in the control group with a p value of 0.003. Both BMI and the waist hip ratio were foundto be significantly greater in the NAFLD group compared to controls. But the p value was more for BMI(p=0.001 OR=6.8 CI=2.07–22.2) as compared to WHR (p=0.04 OR=2.77 CI =1.0007–7.6). SGPT levels wasmore in the NAFLD group (70.94±73.2) as compared to controls (37.71±32.5) with a p value of 0.001(OR=5.75CI=1.948–16.968). Conclusion: Physical activity has a strong inverse relationship with Non-Alcoholic FattyLiver Disease but excess calorie intake and obesity has vice versa relationship. The only biochemicalabnormality found was an elevation in SGPT levels in the NAFLD group.