Introduction Many of our rheumatic patients report that weather and seasons affect their symptoms. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of meteorological parameters within seasons on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. Methods A retrospective longitudinal study from July 2017 to August 2018 was conducted. Data from three consultations for three seasons were collected and included a tender and swollen joint count, a disease activity score for 28 joints (DAS28), and patient's pain assessment from their computerized medical record. The weather conditions (minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed) registered during the same day of consultation for each patient were obtained. Then, the statistical correlation between each meteorological parameter and RA parameters was determined using the multiple linear regression analysis. Results The data of 117 patients with a mean age of 50.45 ± 12.17 years were analyzed. The mean DAS28 at baseline was 2.44 ± 0.95. The winter in Oujda is cold (average temperature between 10°C and15°C) compared to summer (24.5°C–32.7°C). The spring is wetter with a 71% average humidity. Overall, the tender joint count was significantly correlated with hygrometry (p=0.027) in winter. A similar result was obtained in summer with precipitation (p=0.003). The pain intensity in the summer was negatively correlated with minimum temperatures and atmospheric pressure. However, there was no correlation between meteorological parameters and disease objective parameters for all seasons. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that weather parameters appeared to explain the variability in four RA predictors in the summer. No significant associations were observed in the spring. Conclusion Our study supported the physicians' assumption regarding the effect of climate on pain in RA patients. 531 painresmgmt Pain Research & Management Pain Res Manag Wiley PMC7492902 7492902 7492902 32963656 10.1155/2020/5763080 Seasonal and Weather Effects on Rheumatoid Arthritis: Myth or Reality? Azzouzi Hamida 1 ✉ Ichchou Linda 1 1 Rheumatology Department, Mohammed VI University Hospital, Faculty de Medicine, Mohammed I University, Oriental, Oujda, Morocco Academic Editor: Anna Maria Aloisi ✉ Corresponding author. 7 9 2020 2020 5763080 5763080 21 9 2020 Copyright © 2020 Hamida Azzouzi and Linda Ichchou. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Introduction Many of our rheumatic patients report that weather and seasons affect their symptoms. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of meteorological parameters within seasons on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. Methods A retrospective longitudinal study from July 2017 to August 2018 was conducted. The mean DAS28 at baseline was 2.44 ± 0.95. The winter in Oujda is cold (average temperature between 10°C and15°C) compared to summer (24.5°C–32.7°C). The spring is wetter with a 71% average humidity. Overall, the tender joint count was significantly correlated with hygrometry ( p =0.027) in winter. A similar result was obtained in summer with precipitation ( p =0.003). The pain intensity in the summer was negatively correlated with minimum temperatures and atmospheric pressure. However, there was no correlation between Multiple linear regression analysis showed that weather parameters appeared to explain the variability in four RA predictors in the summer. No significant associations were observed in the spring. Conclusion Our study supported the physicians' assumption regarding the effect of climate on pain in RA patients. status released display-pdf yes is-olf no is-manuscript no is-preprint no is-journal-matter no is-scanned no is-retracted no Received 2020 Mar 14; Revised 2020 Jul 26; Accepted 2020 Aug 23; Collection date 2020. 1. Introduction The effect of climate on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms is frequently addressed by our patients. For rheumatoid arthritis, this effect has been described for the onset of the disease, its course, and even its radiographic progression and severity [ 9 ]. Furthermore, symptom and particularly pain analysis is one of the difficulties encountered among the studies on weather effects on arthritic patients. Indeed, pain is difficult to objectify as it is a subjective experience with considerable inter- and intraindividual variations. Moreover, even if the study on weather parameters is regarded to be simple, the interrelation between weather parameters and human beings is complex; in addition, seasonal variations should be taken into consideration [ 10 ]. The intensity of joint pain was evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) at the time of the visit from 0 (no pain) to 10 (maximum pain). The data on the age, gender, presence of associated Sjogren's syndrome, and patients' body mass index (BMI) were also recorded. Sjogren's disease was diagnosed according to the American-European Consensus Group criteria (2002). 2.5. Statistical Analysis The data were analyzed by the IBM® statistical package for social sciences software (version 20). The descriptive analysis of the patients and meteorological parameters during the seasons was made. Pearson correlation, p > 0.05. 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. Multiple linear regression analyses indicate that in the summer, temperature and wind speed tend to explain the four RA activity predictors. In the winter, an increase of 1°C in minimal temperature was associated with an increase of 0.504 in TJC. In the summer, an increase of 1°C was associated with a decrease of 0.534 in TJC ( Table 4 ). Table 4 Multiple linear regression coefficients.