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My arthritis is killing me - it must be spring
It turns out that rheumatoid arthritis patients appear to have higher disease activity during the spring season compared to the fall season, based on subjective and objective disease measures. To determine whether there is a seasonal variation in disease severity among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), researchers examined data from 1,665 patients with RA who participated in a large observational cohort study conducted in Japan from October 2000 to April 2005. The patients (81.7%) were female, the mean age of the patients was 57.2 years, and the average Duration of illness was 9.9 years. Ten criteria were used to assess disease activity, including...
My arthritis is killing me - it must be spring
It turns out that rheumatoid arthritis patients appear to have higher disease activity during the spring season compared to the fall season, based on subjective and objective disease measures.
To determine whether there is a seasonal variation in disease severity among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), researchers examined data from 1,665 patients with RA who participated in a large observational cohort study conducted in Japan from October 2000 to April 2005. The patients (81.7%) were female, the mean age of the patients was 57.2 years, and the average Duration of illness was 9.9 years.
Ten criteria were used to assess disease activity, including objective, subjective, patient-rated, and physician-rated measures. Assessments were conducted each spring and fall during the study period.
The results showed higher disease activity in spring for almost all measures.
In addition to clinical disease measurements, laboratory measurements of disease activity including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Sed rate), C-reactive protein, and rheumatoid factor were significantly increased in the spring compared to the fall.
The impact of the research is difficult to fully determine. However, it is clear that examining patients at different times of the year may produce different results. Seasonal variations in symptoms should be considered when planning changes in treatment. Patients with RA should be warned about possible seasonal fluctuations.
(N. Iikuni, A. Nakajima, E. Inoue, E. Tanaka, H. Okamoto, M. Hara, T. Tomatsu, N. Kamatani, and H. Yamanaka. What is the season for patients with rheumatoid arthritis? Seasonal variations in disease activity Rheumatology (January 2007).
Inspired by Nathan Wei