MONDAY, Nov. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with controls, females with fibromyalgia spend more time in sedentary behaviors and less time engaged in physical activity, according to a study published in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology.
Víctor Segura-Jiménez, Ph.D., from the University of Granada in Spain, and colleagues characterized levels of objectively measured time spent in sedentary activities and physical activity in females with fibromyalgia. The study included 413 female patients with fibromyalgia and 188 age-matched healthy female controls. Triaxial accelerometry was used to examine sedentary time, time spent in physical activity, and step counts.
The researchers found that patients with fibromyalgia spent more time in sedentary activity than controls (estimated mean, 39 minutes per day; < 0.001). Compared with controls, patients with fibromyalgia spent less time engaged in light physical activity (mean, −21 minutes/day; P = 0.005), moderate physical activity (mean, −17 minutes/day; P < 0.001), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (mean, −19 minutes/day; P < 0.001). Compared with controls, patients with fibromyalgia took fewer steps per day (mean, −1,881 steps/day; P < 0.001). The recommendations for 150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were fulfilled by 20.6 percent of patients with fibromyalgia and 46.3 percent of controls (P < 0.001); only 16 and 44.7 percent, respectively, fulfilled the recommendation for ≥10,000 steps per day (P < 0.001).
"Female patients with fibromyalgia spent more time in sedentary behaviors and were less physically active than age-matched controls," the authors write.
Abstract
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