Table 2-.

Outcome measures: Non-invasive assessment of liver disease severity

	Control (n=10)			Exercise (n=18)
	Baseline	Post	Within group p-value	Baseline	Post	Within group p-value	Between group p-value
Clinical Decision Aids
NFS	−1.25 (1.80)	−1.46 (2.04)	0.728	−1.58 (0.93)	−1.52 (0.93)	0.898	0.653
FIB-4	1.67 (1.88)	1.64 (2.26)	0.696	1.24 (0.52)	1.20 (0.52)	0.120	0.861
APRI index	0.84 (0.75)	0.72 (0.76)	0.376	0.60 (0.27)	0.46 (0.15)	0.017	0.904
AST/ALT	0.84 (0.37)	0.71 (0.32)	0.641	0.74 (0.25)	0.76 (0.22)	0.915	0.779
Serum Biomarkers
Adiponectin, ng/mL	3,641.0 (2,004.2)	3,482.3 (1,728.8)	0.450	3,697.73 (3,727.0)	1,065.1 (1,220.7)	0.865	0.500
CK18, IU/L	125.6 (117.7)	168.3 (197.6)	0.279	425.3 (344.6)	363.9 (334.2)	0.012	0.074
Imaging biomarkers
MRI-PDFF liver fat, %	22.5 (13.3)	23.8 (19.3)	0.265	20.4 (7.7)	14.7 (5.4)	0.005	0.011

ALT=alanine aminotransferase; APRI=AST to platelet ratio; AST=aspartate aminotransferase; CK=cytokeratin; FIB-4=Fibrosis-4 index; MCID=minimal clinically important difference; MRI=magnetic resonance imaging; NAFLD=nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NFS=NAFLD Fibrosis Score; PDFF=proton density fat fraction

MRI-PDFF was significantly improved by exercise training with an absolute reduction of −4.7% compared to an absolute gain of +1.2% for control subjects. Importantly, 40% of exercise subjects had ≥30% relative reduction in MRI-PDFF, the threshold for histologic response, compared to 13% of control subjects.

^*reported as mean +/− SD