Seasonal and Weather Effects on Rheumatoid Arthritis: Myth or Reality?

Table 3

Correlation coefficients between meteorological parameters and RA variables in studied seasons.

Season	Meteorological parameter	TJC	SJC	VAS	DAS28
Winter	Min-T°	−0.05	−0.00	−0.11	−0.03
	Max-T°	−0.14	−0.01	−0.17	−0.06
	Humidity	0.20	0.12	0.24	0.17
	Precipitation	0.06	−0.00	0.11	−0.00
	Wind speed	−0.03	0.09	−0.02	0.07
	Barometric pressure	−0.11	−0.00	−0.11	−0.10
Spring	Min-T°	0.05	0.09	0.08	0.08
	Max-T°	−0.01	0.00	−0.09	−0.02
	Humidity	0.15	0.15	0.07	0.12
	Precipitation	−0.08	−0.06	−0.13	−0.17
	Wind speed	−0.13	−0.11	−0.08	−0.16
	Barometric pressure	0.00	0.03	−0.05	0.03
Summer	Min-T°	−0.16	−0.12	−0.21	−0.05
	Max-T°	0.07	0.06	0.14	0.08
	Humidity	0.09	0.06	0.12	−0.10
	Precipitations	0.27	0.11	−0.02	0.08
	Wind speed	−0.00	−0.08	0.13	−0.05
	Barometric pressure	0.07	0.04	−0.19	0.01

Pearson correlation, . Pearson correlation, . TJC: tender joint count; SJC: swollen joint count; VAS: patient’s pain assessed by the visual analogue scale; Min-T°: minimal temperature; Max-T°: maximal temperature.