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Do weather changes influence pain levels in women with fibromyalgia, and can psychosocial variables moderate these influences?

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the association between fibromyalgia pain and weather, and to investigate whether psychosocial factors influence this relationship. Women with chronic widespread pain/fibromyalgia (N = 50) enrolled in a larger study, were recruited from a 4-week inpatient rehabilitation program in Norway ( 2009–2010), and reported their pain and psychological factors up to three times per day (morning, afternoon, evening) for 5 weeks. These ratings were then related to the official local weather parameters. Barometric pressure recorded simultaneously impacted pain significantly while temperature, relative humidity, and solar flux did not. No psychological variables influenced the weather–pain interaction. No weather parameter predicted change in the subsequent pain measures. The magnitude of the inverse association between pain and barometric pressure was very small, and none of the psychological variables studied influenced the association between pain and barometric pressure. All in all, the evidence for a strong weather–pain association in fibromyalgia seems limited at best.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Resource Centre for Rehabilitation in Rheumatology, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Box 23 Vinderen, 0319, Oslo, Norway

    Geir Smedslund

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Buskerud University College, Box 7005, 3007, Drammen, Norway

    Hilde Eide & Ólöf Birna Kristjansdottir

  3. Institute of Nursing, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, N060.010. Pilestredet 32, 0166, Oslo, Norway

    Ólöf Birna Kristjansdottir

  4. Department of Behavioral Sciences in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Ólöf Birna Kristjansdottir & Andrea Aparecida Gonçalves Nes

  5. Modum Bad Research Institute, Vikersund, Norway

    Harold Sexton

  6. Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Egil A. Fors

  7. Department of Psychiatry, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Egil A. Fors

  8. National Competence Centre for Complex Symptom Disorders, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Egil A. Fors

Authors
  1. Geir Smedslund
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  2. Hilde Eide
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  3. Ólöf Birna Kristjansdottir
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  4. Andrea Aparecida Gonçalves Nes
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  5. Harold Sexton
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  6. Egil A. Fors
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Correspondence to Geir Smedslund.

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Smedslund, G., Eide, H., Kristjansdottir, Ó.B. et al. Do weather changes influence pain levels in women with fibromyalgia, and can psychosocial variables moderate these influences?. Int J Biometeorol 58, 1451–1457 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0747-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0747-7

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