Women with Fibromyalgia Don't Exercise Enough

A new study reveals that women with fibromyalgia are more sedentary and less physically active than their peers, with only 16% meeting physical activity goals.

Researchers at the University of Granada (UGR; Spain), Utrecht University (UU; The Netherlands), and other institutions conducted a study to characterize the levels of objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity in women with fibromyalgia, and compare them with age-matched healthy control women. The study comprised 413 women (median age 52) with fibromyalgia and 188 controls. Sedentary time, physical activity, and step count were measured by triaxial accelerometry.

The results showed that women with fibromyalgia presented with higher weight, body mass index (BMI), fat percentage, and lower height than controls, and were less likely to be working than the controls. Sedentary time was greater in women with fibromyalgia compared to controls, and the women with fibromyalgia also spent less time than controls in physical activity. Only 20.6% of women with fibromyalgia and 46.3% of controls met the physical activity recommendations, with both more active on weekdays than at weekend days.

Women with fibromyalgia also accumulated a mean of 1,880 fewer steps per day than controls, with the proportion of women satisfying the steps recommendation lower in fibromyalgia than in the controls. The authors conclude that only 16% of Spanish women with fibromyalgia fulfilled the physical activity and steps recommendations, but clarified that these percentages were still higher than in international studies, which show that only 5% of patients with fibromyalgia fulfill such criteria. The study was published on June 24, 2015, in Arthritis and Rheumatology.

“Women with fibromyalgia spent, approximately eight hours a day of their waking time in sedentary behaviors,” concluded lead author Víctor Segura-Jiménez PhD, of UGR, and colleagues. “Although they spent, on average, approximately 45 min per day in moderate-vigorous physical activity, overall, these activities were not continuous for at least 10 minutes. Only 20.6% of women with fibromyalgia met the weekly physical activity recommendations, whereas 46.3% of controls did.”

Fibromyalgia is a common syndrome of chronic widespread soft-tissue pain accompanied by weakness, fatigue, and sleep disturbances; the cause is unknown. Fibromyalgia affects around seven times as many women as men, and typically develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can occur in people of any age, including children and the elderly. Some estimates suggest nearly 1 in 20 people may be affected by fibromyalgia to some degree.

Related Links:
University of Granada
Utrecht University