Are women with fibromyalgia less physically active than healthy women?

Purpose: The primary purpose was to quantify and compare physical activity in fibromyalgia (FM) patients to age-matched healthy controls using both objective and self-report measures. Secondary purposes were to compare self-reported and objective measurement of physical activity and to evaluate the relationship between physical activity and pain and mood.

Method: Patients with FM (n=39) and healthy controls (n=40) completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and wore an accelerometer at the hip for 7 d. Pain and mood were measured using the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Profile of Mood States, and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire.

Results: FM patients had significantly lower physical activity than controls measured by both the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and accelerometer (P<0.05). Both groups self-reported significantly greater moderate and vigorous physical activities than were measured by the accelerometer (P < 0.05). Self-reported and objective measures of time spent in different intensities of activity showed significant correlations in healthy controls (r=0.41-0.51, ρ=0.41, P<0.05). No significant correlations between measures were found in FM patients (P>0.05). Finally, physical activity levels were negatively related (r=-0.37, P<0.05) to depressed mood for FM patients and positively related (r=-0.41, P<0.05) to self-reported vigor for healthy controls.

Conclusions: This controlled study objectively demonstrates that FM patients are less physically active than healthy controls, thus extending on two earlier investigations that did not show differences in total physical activity levels using wrist-mounted actigraphy methods. Physical activity levels were not predictive of pain in FM but were significantly related to depressed mood. FM patients may also have a greater variability in their manner of self-report than healthy controls. Therefore, physical activity measurement in FM patients should not be limited solely to self-report measures.