Objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity in women with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: To characterise levels of objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity in women with fibromyalgia. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Local Association of Fibromyalgia (Granada, Spain). Participants: The study comprised 94 women with diagnosed fibromyalgia who did not have other severe somatic or psychiatric disorders, or other diseases that prevent physical loading, able to ambulate and to communicate and capable and willing to provide informed consent. Primary outcome measures: Sedentary time and physical activity were measured by accelerometry and expressed as time spent in sedentary behaviours, average physical activity intensity (counts/minute) and amount of time (minutes/day) spent in moderate intensity and in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA). Results: The proportion of women meeting the physical activity recommendations of 30 min/day of MVPA on 5 or more days a week was 60.6%. Women spent, on average, 71% of their waking time (approximately 10 h/day) in sedentary behaviours. Both sedentary behaviour and physical activity levels were similar across age groups, waist circumference and percentage body fat categories, years since clinical diagnosis, marital status, educational level and occupational status, regardless of the severity of the disease (all p>0.1). Time spent on moderate-intensity physical activity and MVPA was, however, lower in those with greater body mass index (BMI) (-6.6 min and -7 min, respectively, per BMI category increase, <25, 25-30, >30 kg/m(2); p values for trend were 0.056 and 0.051, respectively). Women spent, on average, 10 min less on MVPA (p<0.001) and 22 min less on sedentary behaviours during weekends compared with weekdays (p=0.051). Conclusions: These data provide an objective measure of the amount of time spent on sedentary activities and on physical activity in women with fibromyalgia.