Original articlePancreas, biliary tract, and liverEight Weeks of Exercise Training Increases Aerobic Capacity and Muscle Mass and Reduces Fatigue in Patients With Cirrhosis
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Materials and Methods
This randomized controlled pilot study was conducted at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from February to June 2013. All potentially eligible patients were consecutively screened during clinic visits at the Cirrhosis Care Clinic, and all provided signed informed consent. Study approval was granted by our local Health Research Ethics Board, and the study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (study ID: NCT01799785). All co-authors had access to the study data and
Baseline Characteristics
Thirty-six consecutive patients were approached, of which 20 agreed to participate. The baseline characteristics of the patients who did not participate were similar to those who participated (mean age, 58 years; mean CP score, 7; mean MELD score, 11). One patient was excluded before initiating exercise because he met criteria for CP-C disease (Supplementary Figure 1). Data were analyzed for 19 patients (9 ET, 10 UC).
Baseline clinical characteristics are shown in Table 1. Seventy-nine percent
Discussion
The safety and efficacy of supervised ET in clinically stable cirrhosis patients have not been well-studied. Our pilot study is a randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether peak VO2 can be improved after 8 weeks of supervised ET. In this predominantly compensated group of patients (74% CP-A), aerobic ET significantly improved peak VO2, thigh circumference, quadriceps muscle thickness, and patient-perceived health status. Importantly, symptoms of fatigue were also significantly lower with
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Conflicts of interest The authors disclose no conflicts.
Funding Funded by the University of Alberta Hospital Foundation. L. Zenith is funded by a Canadian Liver Foundation Graduate Studentship Award.
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Authors share co-senior authorship.