[Meteocorrective effect of physical and balneal factors in patients with joint diseases]

The environment has the potential to adversely affect human health. Among the variety of adverse factors, one of the leading is the weather, including its abnormal patterns, helio- and geomagnetic disturbances, and extreme hydrometeorological phenomena. Currently, the study of mechanisms of weather and climate factors impacting sick and healthy organisms is warranted by the need to determine the main clinical types of meteotropic (pathological) reactions and development of scientific-based programs for their prevention and treatment with the use of non-drug methods.

To identify the patterns of meteotropic reactions to biotropic weather conditions and evaluate the meteocorrective efficacy of physical and balneal factors in patients with joint diseases.

We studied the features of weather-related disorders in 165 patients diagnosed with osteoarthrosis/osteoarthritis, including those after total hip and knee arthroplasty. Most patients (55.7%) had cardiovascular comorbidities. All patients received balneal and physiotherapeutic procedures in addition to background drug therapy and exercise therapy. The patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1 (55 patients) received general sodium chloride baths and exposure to alternating magnetic field (AMF); Group 2 (54 patients) received «dry» carbon dioxide baths and AMF; Group 3 (56 patients) received general baths with the antioxidant and antihypoxic agent Mitofen, and AMF. The weather-sensitivity and severity of meteorological reactions were evaluated using questionnaires, and self-observation diaries, correlated with medical and meteorological weather forecasts. We used the WAM method (well-being, activity, mood), the Abbreviated Multifactor Personality Inventory (AMPI), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Medical and meteorological weather assessment was performed using a modern medical and meteorological complex (AMMC).

Increased weather sensitivity of varying severity was confirmed in 140 (84.8%) patients, and 25 (15.2%) patients were classified as conditionally weather-sensitive. The most severe meteotropic reactions were noted in patients with cardiovascular comorbidities (55.7%) and older individuals with a compromised medical history (29.1%). The use of balneal and physiotherapeutic methods in the medical rehabilitation programs had a positive effect on the manifestations of autonomous disorders and psychological dysadaptation; also, they contributed to the increase of adaptation and functional reserves of the organism exposed to biotropic weather conditions. The effects of the factors were manifested by the reduction of severity of meteotropic reactions. The high effectiveness of general baths with antioxidant and antihypoxic action was revealed in 71.8% of patients with cardiovascular comorbidities. The meteocorrective effect of sodium chloride baths was less pronounced (29.7%), although the majority of patients after the treatment course showed an improvement in their psychoemotional status (39.7%) and a decrease in severe weather-related exacerbations during spastic weather (from 17.6 to 6.7%).

The meteocorrective efficacy of complex non-drug methods in patients with joint diseases, including concomitant cardiovascular diseases, has been proved.