Physical activity, inactivity and sleep in patients with significant non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects up to 25% of Western populations. In the absence of approved pharmacological therapies, lifestyle interventions are the recommended treatment for NAFLD (1). Physical activity (PA)/exercise can reduce liver fat independently of weight-loss and has demonstrated effectiveness for weight-loss maintenance (2). Physical inactivity has been identified as an independent risk factor for NAFLD and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the most common cause of death in patients with NAFLD. Lower levels of PA have been self-reported in patients with NAFLD (3) and studies using biaxial (4) and triaxial accelerometry (5) have shown that patients with suspected NAFLD engage in less PA and are more inactive than healthy controls. This study will report on PA, inactivity and sleep of patients with significant NAFLD versus age- and gender-matched healthy controls using triaxial accelerometry.