Background: Physical activity (PA) has long been considered a key strategy in the management of sarcopenia. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine domain-specific physical activity, including leisure-time and occupational activities, in relation to possible sarcopenia (PS) among middle-aged and older adults. Methods: We analyzed a total of 15,819 adults aged ≥40 years. PS was defined on the basis of handgrip strength (males <28 kg and females <18 kg) according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to evaluate domain-specific PA, including weekly leisure-time or occupational moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). MVPA was classified into three categories: no activity, 1–149 min/week, and ≥150 min/week. Parameters potentially related to PS or PA were included as covariates: age, sex, household income, education, medication, alcohol and smoking habits, nutritional status, and body weight. Results: Compared with participants with no leisure-time MVPA, those with 1–149 min/week and ≥150 min/week of leisure-time MVPA had odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 0.64 (0.54, 0.74) and 0.60 (0.52, 0.68) for PS, respectively (p<0.001 for both). However, occupational MVPA was not significantly related to PS. Subgroup analyses stratified by sex, age, and sedentary time revealed no significant heterogeneity (all p-values for interactions >0.05). Conclusion These findings demonstrate that PS is inversely related to leisure-time PA but not to occupational PA among middle-aged and older adults, suggesting that PA programs that focus specifically on leisure-time activities may be necessary to prevent and manage possible sarcopenia.

Background: Muscle–liver crosstalk plays an important role in the development and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The measurement of muscle echo-intensity during ultrasonography is a realtime, non-invasive method of assessing muscle quality. In this retrospective study, we investigated the significance of poor muscle quality (namely, a greater mass of non-contractile tissue, including intramuscular fat) as a risk factor for advanced liver fibrosis and considered whether it may represent a useful tool for the diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis. Methods: We analyzed data from 307 patients with NAFLD (143 men and 164 women) who visited the University of Tsukuba Hospital between 2017 and 2022. The patients were stratified into the following tertiles of muscle quality according to their muscle echo-intensity on ultrasonography: modest (84.1 arbitrary units [A.U.]), intermediate (97.4 A.U.), and poor (113.6 A.U.). We then investigated the relationships between muscle quality and risk factors for advanced liver fibrosis and calculated appropriate cutoff values. Results: Patients with poor muscle quality showed a significant, 7.6-fold greater risk of liver fibrosis compared to those with modest muscle quality. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that muscle quality assessment was as accurate as the fibrosis-4 index and NAFLD fibrosis score in screening for liver fibrosis and superior to the assessment of muscle quantity and strength, respectively. Importantly, a muscle echo-intensity of ≥92.4 A.U. may represent a useful marker of advanced liver fibrosis. Conclusion Muscle quality may represent a useful means of identifying advanced liver fibrosis, and its assessment may become a useful screening tool in daily practice.

Background: Muscle–liver crosstalk plays an important role in the development and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The measurement of muscle echo-intensity during ultrasonography is a realtime, non-invasive method of assessing muscle quality. In this retrospective study, we investigated the significance of poor muscle quality (namely, a greater mass of non-contractile tissue, including intramuscular fat) as a risk factor for advanced liver fibrosis and considered whether it may represent a useful tool for the diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis. Methods: We analyzed data from 307 patients with NAFLD (143 men and 164 women) who visited the University of Tsukuba Hospital between 2017 and 2022. The patients were stratified into the following tertiles of muscle quality according to their muscle echo-intensity on ultrasonography: modest (84.1 arbitrary units [A.U.]), intermediate (97.4 A.U.), and poor (113.6 A.U.). We then investigated the relationships between muscle quality and risk factors for advanced liver fibrosis and calculated appropriate cutoff values. Results: Patients with poor muscle quality showed a significant, 7.6-fold greater risk of liver fibrosis compared to those with modest muscle quality. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that muscle quality assessment was as accurate as the fibrosis-4 index and NAFLD fibrosis score in screening for liver fibrosis and superior to the assessment of muscle quantity and strength, respectively. Importantly, a muscle echo-intensity of ≥92.4 A.U. may represent a useful marker of advanced liver fibrosis. Conclusion Muscle quality may represent a useful means of identifying advanced liver fibrosis, and its assessment may become a useful screening tool in daily practice.

Background: Muscle–liver crosstalk plays an important role in the development and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The measurement of muscle echo-intensity during ultrasonography is a realtime, non-invasive method of assessing muscle quality. In this retrospective study, we investigated the significance of poor muscle quality (namely, a greater mass of non-contractile tissue, including intramuscular fat) as a risk factor for advanced liver fibrosis and considered whether it may represent a useful tool for the diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis. Methods: We analyzed data from 307 patients with NAFLD (143 men and 164 women) who visited the University of Tsukuba Hospital between 2017 and 2022. The patients were stratified into the following tertiles of muscle quality according to their muscle echo-intensity on ultrasonography: modest (84.1 arbitrary units [A.U.]), intermediate (97.4 A.U.), and poor (113.6 A.U.). We then investigated the relationships between muscle quality and risk factors for advanced liver fibrosis and calculated appropriate cutoff values. Results: Patients with poor muscle quality showed a significant, 7.6-fold greater risk of liver fibrosis compared to those with modest muscle quality. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that muscle quality assessment was as accurate as the fibrosis-4 index and NAFLD fibrosis score in screening for liver fibrosis and superior to the assessment of muscle quantity and strength, respectively. Importantly, a muscle echo-intensity of ≥92.4 A.U. may represent a useful marker of advanced liver fibrosis. Conclusion Muscle quality may represent a useful means of identifying advanced liver fibrosis, and its assessment may become a useful screening tool in daily practice.

Both westernization of diet and lifestyle habits and chronic inactivity have accelerated the obese population in Japan. Obesity is defined as being a condition in which the excessive energy is stored in the body as fat. Irrespective of organs and tissues, excessive fat accumulation impairs their structure and function, that is, ectopic adiposis. These days, the rapid increase in the number of adult people with abnormal liver function associated with obesity is largely attributed to an increase in the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a chronic liver disease accompanying fat accumulation. In Japan, about 30% of obese people suffer from NAFLD. About 10% of NAFLD progresses to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH is a progressive disease leading to liver cirrhosis. Any treatment with consensus other than diet restriction and exercise training is ineffective for the prevention of onset and progression of NAFLD. The important thing is a practice of suitable amounts of exercise, since it maintains muscle volume, increases the utilization of glucose, and attenuates insulin resistance, all of which may contribute to a decease in hepatic fat accumulation levels. It may be of great significance to practice exercise training for patients with chronic liver disease for improving the liver pathophysiology of NAFLD. In this review, first, the onset mechanism for NAFLD in obese subjects is summarized; second, beneficial effects of exercise on liver pathophysiology of NAFLD are reviewed based on the data from a weight reduction program consisting of dietary restriction plus aerobic exercise; and finally, medical support of obese patients with NAFLD in Tsukuba University Hospital are introduced.