Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis, Osteoarthritis, and Spondylosis are three diseases that manifest as Bi Syndrome. These diseases are caused by the invasion of external pathogenic wind, cold, dampness and heat, that influence pain in traditional medicine. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the correlation between weather conditions and the number of hospitalized patients, and to evaluate the influence of weather conditions on the pain characteristics and some symtoms of diseases that related to Bi Syndrome. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study. The study included patients at the Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Hue Central Hospital and Thua Thien Hue Traditional Medicine Hospital, from January to December of 2020. Results: Out of 1493 patients that hospitalized for traditional medical treatment, 50.6% patients had Bi syndrome. Our survey th roughout 183 consecutive days showed a weak inverse correlation (r = -0.183, p < 0.05) between the average rainfall and the number of patients admitted on the same day, there was no correlation between the average temperature, or humidity, or atmospheric pressure with the number of hospitalized patients (p > 0.05). Among 150 patients with Bi syndrome, 66.7% believed that changes in weather affected their pain. Of the differen t weather conditions, cold and temperature changing was considered to influence pain the most (49% and 24%), the pain was worse in winter (46%). Additionaly, patients also perceived that weather changes affected their mood (47%) and their sleep (37%). Conclusions: There was no relation between the average daily temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and the number of hospitalized patients with diseases related to Bi syndrome. Patient’s subjective assessment suggested that weather conditions may have certain impact on their pain, their mood and their sleep.