How the weather affects the pain of citizen scientists using a smartphone app
Weather has been thought to affect symptoms in patients with chronic disease since the time of Hippocrates over 2000 years ago.
Around three-quarters of people living with arthritis believe their pain is affected by the weather.
A multivariable case-crossover analysis including the four state weather variables demonstrated that an increase in relative humidity was associated with a higher odds of a pain event.
The analysis demonstrated significant relationships between relative humidity, pressure, wind speed and pain.
The ‘worst’ combination of weather variables would increase the odds of a pain event by just over 20% compared to an average day.
