Weather & arthritis

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Weather & Arthritis

• What it means to be " weather sensitive "

• Scientific studies of climate and arthritis

• Future research into weather and arthritis

• Conclusions

Many people with arthritis feel that they can predict the weather.

This observation is based on the increased pain that " weather

sensitive " people have during rainy, cold weather or when the weather

is changing. Some experiments have shown that about 70% of people with

arthritis are weather sensitive. Women and people with osteoarthritis

may be slightly more affected by weather changes than men and people

with other types of arthritis. There is no totally satisfactory

explanation for this phenomenon, but many rheumatologists do not feel

that it is an " old wives' tale. "

Because weather contributes in only a minor way to the seriousness of

joint inflammation, there have been very few scientific studies

regarding the influence of climate and arthritis. Any type of

arthritis can become more painful with climatic change. People with

rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus,

fibromyalgia and others may experience worsening with change in the

weather.

Arthritis occurs in every climate and every continent inhabited by

humans. Thus, scientists do not feel that climatic conditions cause

arthritis. It appears that weather changes simply influence the amount

of discomfort that a person with arthritis experiences and not whether

someone gets arthritis. Likewise, weather changes do not appear to

influence the amount of damage inflicted by joint inflammation.

Research into the relationship of weather and arthritis dates from

1948. At that time, a scientist by the name of Edstrom showed that

people with rheumatoid arthritis, when kept in an environment of

constant warmth and dryness, felt better. In 1961, Dr. Hollander and

his colleagues put 12 people (eight with rheumatoid arthritis, 4 with

osteoarthritis) in a " weather chamber, " in which the temperature,

barometric pressure and humidity could be adjusted. Eight of the

people felt that they were weather sensitive. Seven of those eight

were demonstrated to have worsening of symptoms with increased humidity

and decreased barometric pressure.

A later experiment (1985), lasting one month, studied 35 people with

osteoarthritis and 35 with rheumatoid arthritis (62% who felt

themselves to be weather sensitive). The atmospheric pressure and

humidity were altered without the knowledge of those people with

arthritis. No relationship between weather conditions and joint

symptoms was found, even among those who reported before the experiment

that they could tell the difference.

In another 1985 experiment, Dutch scientists examined the symptoms of

88 patients with rheumatoid arthritis for one year. The people with

arthritis kept a diary of their joint symptoms from day-to-day while

the investigators kept track of weather conditions. After the one year

period, the investigators tried to find a relationship between the

patients' symptoms and the weather. It was found that during the

summer months, people with rheumatoid arthritis had increased pain when

temperatures decreased and humidity increased. Another Dutch

experiment, published in 1986, used an instrument to measure joint

stiffness in 122 people with rheumatoid arthritis compared to 101

without arthritis. As expected, people with rheumatoid arthritis had

more joint stiffness than those without arthritis. Among those with

rheumatoid arthritis, increased joint inflammation was associated with

increased stiffness. People with rheumatoid arthritis also had

increased stiffness when humidity increased.

A study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology described

the influence of humidity, atmospheric pressure, cloudiness,

temperature and windiness on arthritis pain. Nineteen people with

rheumatoid arthritis were studied during a winter month. Increased

humidity, cloudiness and decreased temperature all made symptoms of

rheumatoid arthritis worse. In this study 69% of the patients were

weather sensitive.

Sixty-two people with arthritis were examined in Israel to determine if

there was a relationship between weather and arthritis symptoms. There

were 16 people with rheumatoid arthritis, 24 with osteoarthritis and 11

with fibromyalgia. The other people had a variety of arthritis

diseases including: undefined inflammatory arthritis, psoriatic

arthritis, Behcet's disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Twenty-five percent of people with rheumatoid arthritis, 83% of people

with osteoarthritis, 77% of individuals with fibromyalgia and 64% of

those with other types of arthritis were weather sensitive. Women were

more sensitive to weather changes than men (62% versus 37%).

Temperature changes, rain and fluctuation of barometric pressure

influenced the joint pain of individuals with osteoarthritis.

Barometric pressure and temperature had more of an effect on those with

rheumatoid arthritis. Eighty percent of people with osteoarthritis and

83% of people with fibromyalgia could predict rain accurately. About

three quarters of people with other types of arthritis could predict

rain.

There have been additional studies that have shown similar results.

It is doubtful that much money should be spent on the study of weather

and arthritis since climatic changes play a relatively small role in

arthritis symptoms. In addition, there are limited financial resources

for arthritis research and there are research areas that are more

important. None-the-less, future experiments looking at the

relationship between weather and arthritis should strive for larger

numbers of people to study, better definitions of the types of

arthritis being studied, better developed ways of evaluating patients'

symptoms and accuracy in the definition of the aspect of weather being

studied. Future studies also should examine the influence of weather

changes on mediators of inflammation and not simply readdress whether

temperature, humidity and barometric pressure cause arthritis symptoms

to get worse.

What conclusions can be drawn? There is some evidence that persons

with arthritis have symptoms influenced by changes in the weather.

Women may be more sensitive to weather changes than men. Those persons

with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia (at least in some studies) have the

greatest likelihood of having symptoms made worse by climatic changes.

Some people can predict rain. Changes in humidity, temperature and

barometric pressure all have been implicated as factors changing joint

pain. Only joint symptoms (such as pain and stiffness) are influenced

by weather. There is no evidence that weather changes contribute to

joint damage nor is there evidence that weather changes have anything

to do with whether an individual gets arthritis in the first place.

The benefit to be gained from moving one's home to a drier, warmer

climate is small and is usually overshadowed by the stress (both

physical and emotional) that results from moving. Thus,

rheumatologists rarely recommend that a person move to a different

location to change climates. Many of those that have moved have found

that it is not worth it. Finally, research dollars are better spent on

areas other than the relationship between weather and arthritis.

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