title: Chronic pain and weather conditions in patients suffering from temporomandibular disorders: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) often report increased pain in response to changes in weather conditions. Nevertheless, scientific evidence supporting this relationship is scarce. The aim of this study was to assess a potential relationship between pain intensity and meteorological factors, through a newly developed, portable device, in patients affected by chronic masticatory muscle pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven female subjects were diagnosed with myofascial pain of the masticatory muscles, according to RDC/TMD criteria, were recruited, and participated in the study. Each patient was provided with a portable data logger that recorded and stored weather variables (atmospheric pressure, air humidity, temperature) every 15 min. Patients were asked to record the level of perceived pain on an electronic visual analogue scale (VAS) every hour. The relationship between meteorological variables and pain scores was investigated using separate generalized least squares regression models with a correlation structure estimated via autoregressive integrated moving average models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individual VAS trajectories in the study period were different. The effect of meteorological factors on VAS scores was statistically significant in five subjects, with at least one main effect and/or one two-way interaction between meteorological variables being significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The analyses suggest the existence of different interindividual responses to climatic changes. However, the identified putative role of meteorological variables and of their two-way interactions suggests that further investigations on larger samples may be useful to assess the research question under examination.
authors.affiliation: Sezione di Statistica Medica e Biometria Giulio A. Maccacaro, Dipartimento di Medicina del Lavoro Clinica del Lavoro L. Devoto, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy. valeria.edefonti@unimi.it
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Edefonti
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bravi
authors.forename: Iacopo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cioffi
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Capuozzo
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ammendola
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abate
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Decarli
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferraroni
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farella
authors.forename: Ambra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michelotti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014887:Weather