Chinese Hepatolgy ›› 2023, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (3): 355-359.

• Other Liver Diseases • Previous Articles     Next Articles

VO2 max is correlated with liver steatosis in male nonalcoholic fatty liver patients

LIU Xiao-hui1, GOU Yu-song1, LIANG Shan1, REN Hong2, LI Qiang3, DUAN Wei4, ZHANG Jing1   

  1. 1. Fatty Liver Disease Treatment Center, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
    2. Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China;
    3. Beijing Physical Examination Center, Beijing 100036, China;
    4. Beijing Paopao-meimei Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 100144, China
  • Received:2022-04-22 Online:2023-03-31 Published:2023-08-28
  • Contact: ZHANG Jing, Email: zjyouan@ccmu.edu.cn

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Abstract: Objective To investigate the level of cardiopulmonary fitness (CRF) in NAFLD patients and to evaluate the relationship of CRF with liver steatosis, inflammation and liver fibrosis. Methods Sixty-two patients were enrolled in this study. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) level was determined to reflect CRF and controlled attenuated parameter (CAP) was tested to reflect liver fat content. Biochemical and body composition indexes were simutaneously detected. The CRF level was graded according to age and gender. The correlation between VO2 max and various fatty liver associated parameters were analyzed. Results Forty cases (64.5%) of the 62 patients were male, and their VO2 max, body weight, CAP, ALT, uric acid and body fat rate were significantly higher than those of female patients (all P<0.05). The levels of CRF were classified into 3 grades, i.e., excellent/good, general/poor and very poor. There were 3 cases, 14 cases and 23 cases in male patients, and 10 cases, 11 cases and 1 case in female patients were classified into each of the 3 grades, respectively, with significant difference between the male and female patients (P<0.001). In male patients, there were 10 cases with mild to moderate fatty liver and 30 cases with severe fatty liver. The BMI [(30.0±3.5) vs. (25.6±3.0)kg/m2], CAP value [(357.2±24.1) vs. (282.3±15.6)dB/m], weight hip ratio [(0.98±0.03) vs. (0.93±0.03)]and body fat rate [(29.7±4.3) vs. (23.9±4.2)%] were higher in patients with severe fatty liver, but their VO2 max [(30.1±3.2) vs. (32.8±3.0)mL/(kg·min)] was significantly lower than that in patients with mild to moderate fatty liver (both P<0.05). By correlation analysis it was shown that VO2 max was negatively correlated with CAP value, body fat rate, visceral fat content, visceral fat area and BMI in male patients, and positively correlated with appendicular skeletal muscle mass (both P<0.05). Conclusion VO2 max is closely associated with the severity of liver steatosis. The cardiopulmonary function and aerobic exercise capacity are low in NAFLD patients, especially in male patients. The results indicated that male patients with NAFLD had poor responsiveness to exercise intervention, and individualized exercise programs should be formulated for them according to their tolerance in clinical treatment.

Key words: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Maximal oxygen uptake, Cardiopulmonary fitness, Liver steatosis