Associations of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors with prevalent steatotic liver disease in middle-aged and older adults: the ELSA-Brasil study

TL;DR

This study finds that higher physical activity, especially moderate to vigorous, is linked to lower rates of fatty liver disease in middle-aged and older adults.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into how combinations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep affect fatty liver disease prevalence.

Findings

Total activity volume and moderate to vigorous physical activity were inversely associated with fatty liver disease.

Substituting lower-intensity behaviors with moderate to vigorous activity reduced SLD prevalence regardless of sleep duration.

The associations were stronger in women and weakened when adjusting for body fat markers.

Abstract

Steatotic liver disease (SLD) is a prevalent metabolic disease. While single component movement behaviors have been related to its development, comprehensive assessments of their joint associations are scarce.

To investigate the single-component and multi-component associations of moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity (LPA), sedentary behavior (SB), and sleep with prevalent SLD in Brazilian adults.

A cross-sectional analysis using data from the third wave of the ELSA-Brasil cohort (2017–2019). Participants wore an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT in the waist for seven days and completed a sleep diary. SLD was defined by a Fatty Liver Index ≥ 60. To investigate single-component and multi-component associations, we used three exposure modeling approaches based on Poisson models: multivariable-adjusted regression, restricted cubic splines, and compositional data analysis.

Among 8569 participants (55.7% women, mean age 59.2 ± 8.60), 43.9% had SLD. Total activity volume adjusted for covariates was inversely associated with prevalent SLD. Every 1 mg/day increase in total activity volume was associated with a PR of 0.95 in individuals sleeping < 7 h/day (95% CI 0.94–0.97) and 0.95 (95% CI 0.93–0.96) in those sleeping ≥ 7 h/day. Increasing 30 min/day of MVPA was associated with decreasing prevalence of SLD (sleep ≥ 7 h/day [PR 0.83; 95% CI 0.77–0.89]; sleep ≥ 7 h/day [PR 0.78; 95% CI 0.74–0.83]). Sleep, SB, and LPA were not associated with SLD. Associations of total activity volume and MVPA were more pronounced among females. Adjustment with adiposity markers attenuated the associations.

In adults, total activity volume and MVPA were inversely associated with SLD in a dose–response fashion. Substituting lower-intensity behaviors with MVPA was associated with a lower prevalence of SLD independent of sleep duration, sex, and age.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s44167-024-00055-7.

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