The Effect of Diet and Exercise on Improvement of Quality of Life in Patients with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is part of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). No special medical treatment is known for this disease, and lifestyle modification is the best known method of treatment. We aimed to compare the effect of diet and aerobic exercise with that of diet alone on the quality of life of patients with NASH. In the present study, 25 patients within the age of range of 18-55 years were randomly divided into two groups of diet along with aerobic exercise (n = 12) and diet alone (n = 13). The low-calorie diet in both groups included 500 kilocalories of energy less than the estimated daily energy requirement. In addition to diet, the first group participated in aerobic exercise for a period of 12 weeks, 3 days a week with 55–60% heart rate reserve. Quality of life score was measured by the short form-36 (SF-36) and ultrasonography at the beginning and the end of the study. In assessment of quality of life in diet along with aerobic exercise group, physical function, performance limitations due to illness, physical component score, general health, and vitality showed significant changes. In the diet alone group, general health and vitality improved after the intervention. Moreover, a significant reduction was observed in ultrasonographic features of fatty liver of those who also had aerobic exercise. Results of this study showed that addition of aerobic exercise to low-calorie diet was more effective in the improvement of quality of life and ultrasonographic features of patients with NASH.