Most patients complain about weather
associated aggravation or even flares of their rheumatoid arthritis. There are
one few studies addressing the issue, of which I’ve selected some recent ones.
E.M. Savage and colleagues published a study
[1]: “Does rheumatoid arthritis disease activity correlate with weather
conditions?” They concluded: “In this study, rheumatoid arthritis disease
activity (as measured by DAS-28) was significantly lower in both more sunny and
less humid conditions.”
L. Abasolo an colleagues presented [2]: “Weather
conditions may worsen symptoms in rheumatoid arthritis patients: the possible
effect of temperature.” In results the authors tell us: “245 RA patients who
visited the emergency room 306 times due to RA related complaints as the main
diagnostic reason were included in the study. Patients from 50 to 65 years old
were 16% more likely to present a flare with lower mean temperatures.”
G. Smedslund and K.B. Hagen presented a meta-analysis
[3]: “Does rain really cause pain? A systematic review of the associations
between weather factors and severity of pain in people with rheumatoid
arthritis.” This is their conclusion: “The studies to date do not show any
consistent group effect of weather conditions on pain in people with RA. There
is, however, evidence suggesting that pain in some individuals is more affected
by the weather than in others, and that patients react in different ways to the
weather. Thus, the hypothesis that weather changes might significantly
influence pain reporting in clinical care and research in some patients with RA
cannot be rejected.”
G. Smedslund and another group of colleagues
presented [4]: “Does the weather really matter? A cohort study of influences of
weather and solar conditions on daily variations of joint pain in patients with
rheumatoid arthritis.” The authors concluded: “Weather sensitivity seems to be
a continuum and a highly individual phenomenon in patients with RA. In the
present sample, pain was significantly associated with 3 or more weather
variables in 1 out of 6 patients, for whom the magnitude of weather sensitivity
might significantly influence pain reporting in clinical care and research.”
About four years ago I collected statements
of patients concerning weather sensitivity [5]. Most complaints are centered on
wet and cold weather, weather change, high or low temperature, which all lead
to discomfort.
I would like to see a study in which the
comfort zones of patients with inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis
are compared to normal individuals. Parameters could be air temperature, air
pressure, humidity, air speed. What are the effects of a breeze at high or low
temperatures?
To sum it up, weather conditions influence
comfort or discomfort in patients with inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid
arthritis, but we still don’t know how to enlarge the comfort zone for our
patients.
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