Evaluation of sleep quality and physical activity in patients with fibromyalgia by actigraphy

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate sleep quality and physical activity in fibromyalgia patients with self-reported subjective methods as well as actigraphy that provide objective data. Method: 25 female patients with fibromyalgia who were newly diagnosed according to the ACR 2016 Revision Fibromyalgia Diagnostic Criteria or did not receive medication for at least 6 months, applied to Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic, and 25 healthy women were included in the study. Sleep and functional status were evaluated with the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and physical activity with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). 3-day actigraphy data were used for the objective evaluation of sleep and physical activity. Results: 88% of fibromyalgia patients (mean age 44±9 years) evaluated sleep quality as poor according to PSQI, and PSQI scores were found to be significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p<0.05). According to the data obtained from actigraphy, total sleep time (6.03 hours) in FM patients was significantly shorter than in the control group (7.05 hours) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the sleep data obtained from actigraphy of the patient group and the healthy group, except for the total sleep time. There was no correlation between parameters such as sleep time, latency, time spent in bed, and sleep efficiency obtained from PSQI and actigraphy. No correlation was found between FIQ scores and sleep parameters obtained from PSQI and actigraphy. Vigorous physical activity was significantly higher in the control group compared to IPAQ-SF (p<0.05). The total number of activities and the average number of activities per minute in sleep were both higher in the FM group. Conclusion: According to the actigraphy results of this study, sleep quality and physical activity of fibromyalgia patients are similar to the healthy population. Although there was no difference in sleep data between the patient group and the control group according to actigraphy, the patient group reported poor sleep in self-report questionnaires. These results, similar to the literature, support that sleep in fibromyalgia patients is not restful even if they sleep for a long time, and that the quality of sleep should be the focus of research rather than the quantity of sleep parameters in this population. The use of an actigraphy device placed on the hip may be a more accurate approach in evaluating physical activity.