Do women with fibromyalgia present higher cardiovascular disease risk profile than healthy women? The al-Ándalus project.

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the cardiovascular disease risk profile of women with fibromyalgia and compare it with control women; and to test whether physical activity is associated with the cardiovascular disease risk profile in this population.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study comprised 436 women with fibromyalgia (51.4±7.5 years old) and 217 controls (48.4±9.6 years old) from Andalusia, Spain. Clinical data, waist circumference, body fat percentage, resting heart rate, blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness were assessed. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was objectively assessed with accelerometry. A clustering of individual cardiovascular disease risk factors was represented by the number of cigarettes/day, adiposity, mean arterial pressure, resting heart rate and cardiorespiratory fitness.

RESULTS: Women with fibromyalgia presented higher waist circumference and body fat percentage, greater number of cigarettes/day consumption and lower levels of cardiorespiratory fitness after controlling for age, marital status, educational level, occupational status, medication for cholesterol and monthly regular menstruation (all, p<.05). Women with fibromyalgia showed higher clustered cardiovascular disease risk than control women after controlling for the potential confounders described above (p<.001). Women with fibromyalgia who did not meet moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommendations showed increased clustered cardiovascular disease risk after adjusting for the potential confounders described above (p<.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Women with fibromyalgia may present higher risk of cardiovascular disease than controls. Inadequate levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may play a significant role as an additional predisposing factor for cardiovascular disease risk in this population.