Re: Association between rainfall and diagnoses of joint or back pain: retrospective claims analysis
This analysis lacks several key pieces of data that influence the validity of the data collected. Anecdotal reporting of joint pain due to air temperature and seasonal weather changes are well documented and the lack of daily temperatures or the authors failing to pre-select a temperature range to sample data from creates additional variables that may influence patient pain irrespective of rainfall.
Furthermore, there is no criteria for the severity of pain and the actual onset of the pain question; was it enough to request immediate medical attention or was it incidental on the day of the scheduled appointment? Even with such large patient numbers missing these important pieces of data may make any findings incidental.
Rapid Response:
Re: Association between rainfall and diagnoses of joint or back pain: retrospective claims analysis
This analysis lacks several key pieces of data that influence the validity of the data collected. Anecdotal reporting of joint pain due to air temperature and seasonal weather changes are well documented and the lack of daily temperatures or the authors failing to pre-select a temperature range to sample data from creates additional variables that may influence patient pain irrespective of rainfall.
Furthermore, there is no criteria for the severity of pain and the actual onset of the pain question; was it enough to request immediate medical attention or was it incidental on the day of the scheduled appointment? Even with such large patient numbers missing these important pieces of data may make any findings incidental.
Competing interests: No competing interests