Abstract PO-185: Physical activity and nutrition behaviors in Hispanic patients with non- alcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors: Thrift Aaron , Balakrishnan Maya , Heredia Natalia I. , Liu Yan 
Published: December 2020

Background. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing problem in the U.S. and has become an important risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hispanics experience the highest burden of both NAFLD and HCC. Increasing physical activity and making dietary changes to achieve weight loss are the mainstay for NAFLD treatment and potentially for HCC prevention. While newly diagnosed NAFLD patients usually get brief information on the etiology and management of their disease, it is unclear exactly what patients actually think about their current health behaviors and their need to be more active or eat healthier. The purpose of this study was to describe Hispanic NAFLD patients’ current physical activity and dietary behaviors, perceptions of those behaviors, and any barriers they perceive to be hindering them from making a change. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 414 Hispanic patients participating in the Harris County NAFLD Cohort, a prospective cohort study that recruits consecutive adult patients with NAFLD referred to a multidisciplinary specialty clinic within a safety-net healthcare system in Texas. NAFLD was diagnosed based on liver imaging, excluding other known causes. Height and weight were measured at baseline to obtain Body Mass Index (BMI); diabetes was classified based on pre-existing diagnosis reported by the patients and verified in the medical records. Self-administered questionnaire measured demographic factors, physical activity (Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity Scale), diet (NCI FLASHE questionnaire), and perceptions of and barriers to doing physical activity or eating healthy. We used descriptive statistics to explore demographics, behaviors, perceptions, and barriers. Results. Average age was 46 years, 84% spoke primarily Spanish, and 59% were born in Mexico. More than half of the sample were insufficiently active (55%), but encouragingly 90.1% reported wanting to be more active. Most of the sample (79%) did not meet fruit and vegetable intake guidelines. While 92% of the sample reported that they could eat healthier, only 61% of the total sample thought that they should eat more fruits and vegetables, 70% thought that they should eat less fat and 65% thought that they should eat less sugar. The top 5 barriers to eating healthier were cost, perceptions that healthier food doesn’t taste good, lack of time to cook, difficulty of cooking and difficulty of going to the grocery store. Top barriers to doing more physical activity were Lack of time, feelings of laziness, pain, nowhere to exercise, and feeling that is it too difficult to exercise. Discussion. Interventions will be necessary to encourage physical activity and health dietary behaviors, as well as correct certain perceptions among Hispanic patients diagnosed with NAFLD. Multi-level interventions may be needed to help patients address barriers to these two behaviors.

Citation Format: Aaron Thrift, Maya Balakrishnan, Natalia I. Heredia, Yan Liu. Physical activity and nutrition behaviors in Hispanic patients with non- alcoholic fatty liver disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-185.