Associations between weather conditions and clinical symptoms in patients with hip osteoarthritis: A 2-year cohort study

Weather conditions are commonly believed to influence musculoskeletal pain, however the evidence for this is mixed. This study aimed to examine the relationship between local meteorological conditions and online search trends for terms related to knee pain, hip pain, and arthritis. Five years of relative online search volumes for these terms were obtained for the 50 most populous cities in the contiguous United States, along with corresponding local weather data for temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and precipitation. Methods from the climate econometrics literature were used to assess the casual impact of these meteorological variables on the relative volumes of searches for pain. For temperatures between -5˚C and 30˚C, search volumes for hip pain increased by 12 index points, and knee pain increased by 18 index points. Precipitation had a negative effect on search volumes for these terms. At temperatures >30˚C, search volumes for arthritis related pain decreased by 7 index points. These patterns were not seen for pain searches unrelated to the musculoskeletal system. In summary, selected local weather conditions are significantly associated with online search volumes for specific musculoskeletal pain symptoms. We believe the predominate driver for this to be the relative changes in physical activity levels associated with meteorological conditions.

Weather affects the daily lives of individuals. However, its health effects have not been fully elucidated. It may lead to physical symptoms and/or influence mental health. Thus, we evaluated the association between weather parameters and various ailments. We used daily reports on health symptoms from 4548 individuals followed for one month in October of 2013, randomly sampled from the entirety of Japan. Weather variables from the monitoring station located closest to the participants were used as weather exposure. Logistic mixed effects model with a random intercept for each individual was applied to evaluate the effect of temperature and humidity on physical symptoms. Stratified analyses were conducted to compare weather effects by sex and age group. The lag day effects were also assessed. Joint pain was associated with higher temperature (1.87%, 95% CI = 1.15 to 2.59) and humidity (1.38%, 95% CI = 0.78 to 2.00). Headaches was increased by 0.56% (95% CI = −0.55 to 1.77) per 1 °C increase in the maximum temperature and by 1.35% per 1 °C increase in dew point. Weather was associated with various physical symptoms. Women seem to be more sensitive to weather conditions in association with physical symptoms, especially higher humidity and lower temperature.

Objective Although pain in knee osteoarthritis (OA) commonly affects activity engagement, the daily pain experience has not been fully-characterized. Specifically, the nature and impact of pain flares is not well-understood. This study characterized pain flares, defined by participants with knee OA; pain flare occurrence and experience were measured over 7 days. Methods This was a multiple methods study; qualitative methods were dominant. Data were collected during the baseline portion of a randomized controlled trial. Participants met criteria for knee OA and had moderate to severe pain. They completed questionnaires and a 7-day home monitoring period that captured momentary symptom reports simultaneously with physical activity via accelerometry (N = 45). Participants also provided individual definitions of pain flare which were used throughout the home monitoring period to indicate whether a pain flare occurred. Results Pain flares were described most often by quality (often sharp), followed by timing (seconds-minutes), and by antecedents and consequences. When asked if their definition of a flare agreed with a supplied definition, 49% of the sample reported only “somewhat”, “a little” or “not at all”. Using individual definitions, 78% experienced at least one daily pain flare over the home monitoring period; 24% had a flare on over 50% of the monitored days. Conclusions Pain flares were common, fleeting, and often experienced in the context of activity engagement. Participants’ views on what constitutes a pain flare differ from commonly accepted definitions. Pain flares are an understudied aspect of the knee OA pain experience and require further characterization.