Arthritis Pain Worsens At High Barometric Pressures: Study

For patients with osteoarthritis of the hip, pain levels rise with the weather over the course of a small two-year study, Dutch researchers say, Newsmax Health reports.

It turns out the participants' aches were just a little worse and joints just a little stiffer when humidity and barometric pressure levels rose.

Osteoarthritis affects about 27 million Americans. Common risk factors include getting older, being obese, having previous joint injuries, overuse, weak muscles and genetics.

More than 60 percent of patients with osteoarthritis say that weather conditions, such as rain, barometric pressure and temperature have an impact on their pain and stiffness, according to the study team, which was led by Desirée Dorleijn, of Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam.

The patients enrolled in the study filled out questionnaires every three months for two years, including the Western Ontario and McMasters University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), which is scale for self-assessment of pain and function. The WOMAC scores range from 0 to 100, with 0 indicating no pain.

About 70 percent of participants were women, averaging about 63 years old.

The average starting WOMAC pain score was 23.1 and the function score was 35.1. Those scores improved slightly - each by about 2 points - throughout the study.

But when the researchers compared weather conditions to pain and function scores, they found that pain scores worsened by 1 point for each 10 percent increase in humidity.

Function scores worsened by one point for every 10 hectopascals (0.29 of an inch) increase in barometric pressure.

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