Citation

Xie J, Zhu Y, Fan Y, Xin L, Liu J. Int. J. Biometeorol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Rheumatism and Immunity, The First Hospital Affiliated to Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230031, Anhui, People's Republic of China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Society of Biometeorology, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00484-019-01805-y

PMID

31650297

Abstract

It has been reported that local weather is associated with the symptoms of joint pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and many people believe their pain becomes worse when facing rainy days. However, limited studies explored the effects of weather on RA patients' healthcare-seeking behavior. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between rainfall and readmission behavior of patients with RA in Hefei, China, based on hospitalization data from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine from May 2012 to June 2016 and weather data from National Meteorological Information Center during the same study period. Using a time-stratified case-crossover study design and conditional logistic regression, we found a negative association between current day rainfall and readmission (unadjusted: OR = 0.82, p < 0.05; adjusted: OR = 0.83, p < 0.1), which is contrary to our common belief. In lagged models, we observed that rainfall was significantly and positively associated with readmissions at lag 6 days (unadjusted: OR = 1.12, p < 0.1; adjusted: OR = 1.17, p < 0.05) and lag 7 days (unadjusted: OR = 1.13, p < 0.05; adjusted: OR = 1.21, p < 0.01). Additionally, stratified analyses showed the unanticipated finding was only statistically significant for younger patients (< 65 years) and females. Our study adds new evidence that the association between the healthcare-seeking behavior of patients with RA and local rainfall may be different, compared with the positive relationship between symptoms of joint pain and rainfall.

Language: en

Keywords

Rainfall; Readmission; Rheumatoid arthritis; Time-stratified case-crossover analysis