Further observations on seasonal variation. 1. Osteoarthritis

Abstract

In an earlier study of morbidity in a group of inner London practices, consultations for osteoarthritis were shown to be most frequent in the late spring and late autumn months. Though this pattern agreed with the results of experiments with controlled meteorological variables, it contradicted widely-held beliefs and was not supported by the medical literature. Confirmatory evidence was therefore sought in two other sources of data. Analyses were performed on monthly figures provided by the Department of Health and Social Security of dispensed non-steroidal antiinflammatory preparations and on five years of general practice morbidity records held by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. These analyses largely confirmed the earlier finding, particularly that of a spring peak for consultations for osteoarthritis, though there was some variation in the timing from year to year in both sets of data.