Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: Non alcoholic fatty liver disease is an accumulation of fat in liver cells and its prevalence is rising parallel to obesity. Objective: Comparison of drug therapy with exersice program on body composition and cardio-pulmonary fitness in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Method: Among female patients with fatty liver disease that in May 2014 referred to the central hospital in Fouman, 20 volunteer patients randomly allocated to drug therapy and exercise program. Resistance and endurance exercises performed 3days a week for 90 minutes per session for 8weeks.For both groups a low calory diet was prescribed as 500 calories less than their daily metabolic rate. Before and after the end of the intervention period, body composition and aerobic fitness were measured. SPSS software version 20 was used for data analysis, dependent and independent t-tests were conducted. Significant level were (p<0.05). Results: There was no significant difference in the pre-test between the two groups on measures of body composition and aerobic fitness. Results showed that after intervention in both groups, body composition parameters (body mass index, waist-hip ratio and subcutaneous fat tickness) significantly reduced (p<0.001) and aerobic fitness (Rockport one mile walking test) was increased significantly only in exercise group (p< 0/01). Conclusion: Results showed that probably both methods of drug therapy and exercise training had the same effect on reducing the severity of NAFLD and improving body composition indices but exercise program also had a positive effect on cardio-pulmonary fitness in these patients.The findings can be used in planning therapeutic complementary programs in these patients.