Abstract
Background
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a primary cause of disability among the elderly, and its pathogenesis is unclear. This study explores the correlations of different meteorological factors to characteristics and outcomes of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients through a 2-year follow-up.
Methods
The study enrolled 70 participants with KOA from Shanghai, China and conducted a follow-up assessment 2 years later. Assessment parameters included knee pain score, bone marrow abnormality (BMA) score, and levels of proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-6. Additionally, meteorological data on temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity were collected from local meteorological stations. At baseline, meteorological factors were discretized into binary variables using their respective median values. The analysis of the associations between these meteorological factors and pain scores, BMA scores, and proinflammatory cytokines levels were conducted through the Mann-Whitney U test. Longitudinally, the associations between these meteorological factors and the mentioned KOA indicators were determined using multivariate linear regression models.
Results
At baseline, the average age of individuals is 60.6 years old. In the low temperature group individuals had higher WOMAC pain scores (p = 0.022), increased levels of IL-1β (p < 0.001) and IL-6 (p = 0.047) compared to those in the high temperature group. In longitudinal analysis, there were notable associations between temperature fluctuations and alterations in the pain scores (β=-0.916, p < 0.001), IL-1β (β=-0.859, p < 0.001) and IL-6 levels (β=-0.577, p = 0.006).
Conclusion
These findings provide evidence that temperature has a significant impact on the pain and inflammatory levels in patients with KOA. Conversely, wind speed and relative humidity do not exhibit such effects.