Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To verify the effect of physical exercise on the quality of life of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). METHODS: the sample included controlled and randomized experimental studies of individuals with LC, at any stage of the disease, over 18 years of age, of both sexes, who performed any type of physical exercise compared to any other intervention or no intervention, with quality of life as the outcome assessed by the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ). The search for articles was conducted in 11 databases. The descriptors considered for the search were physical exercise, quality of life, liver cirrhosis, and their synonyms. The methodological quality and study bias were assessed using the Jadad scale and the RoB 2 scale, respectively. Review Manager 5.4 was used for the meta-analysis of the data. Quality of life was considered a continuous variable. The mean difference was considered as the effect measure. The analysis model was fixed-effect. The confidence level adopted was .05. The level of evidence for the meta-analysis results was assessed using the GRADE tool. RESULTS: A meta-analysis of five studies, in which 153 participants with LC, of which 83 belonged to the physical exercise group and 70 to the control group, showed that the experimental group that performed physical exercise significantly increased quality of life by 0.46 [0.09 to 0.84]; P=.02. The level of evidence of the meta-analysis was considered high. CONCLUSION: Physical exercise led to an improvement in the health-related quality of life of patients with LC.