Walking and muscle-strengthening activities may significantly reduce the risk death from liver disease, a study has found.
Researchers said that the findings may help provide specific exercise recommendations for patients at risk for cirrhosis and its complications.
"Our findings show that both walking and strength training contribute to substantial reductions in risk of cirrhosis-related death, which is significant because we know very little about modifiable risk factors," said researchers. "The benefit of exercise is not a new concept, but the impact of exercise on mortality from cirrhosis and from liver cancer has not yet been explored on this scale."
Researchers collected data from 68,449 women and 48,748 men who did not have any known liver disease at the start of the study.
The participants provided highly accurate data on physical activity, including type and intensity, every two years from 1986 through 2012, which allowed the researchers to prospectively examine the association between physical activity and cirrhosis-related death.
The findings demonstrated that adults in the highest quintile of weekly walking activity had 73 percent lower risk for cirrhosis-related death than those in the lowest quintile.