Barometric pressure impacts on pain and stress in fibromyalgia suggests new research

Lower barometric pressure may be associated with increased pain and stress levels in people with fibromyalgia says a new study in PLOS ONE.

People often complain that the weather impacts symptoms of arthritis and fibromyalgia but actual evidence tends to be conflicting. Now a new study has looked at the relationship between barometric pressure, stress and pain in 48 people with fibromyalgia.

The volunteers reported pain levels and emotional state three times a day by mobile phone messages for 30 days. Weather data was recorded at the same time.

Lower barometric pressure and increased humidity were associated with increased pain intensity and pain unpleasantness. And lower barometric pressure was associated with higher stress levels too.

Stress levels moderated the impact of lower barometric pressure on pain intensity; higher stress was associated with higher pain.

But a small group of the volunteers reacted in completely the opposite way and had more pain when barometric pressure was higher.

“Lower barometric pressure was associated with increased pain and stress levels in the majority of the patients, and stress moderated the relationship between barometric pressure and pain at the group-level,” the researchers comment.

Click here to read the original findings.

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