It is a common belief that weather affects pain. Therefore, we hypothesized that weather can affect pain tolerance. This study used data from over 18,000 subjects aged 40 years or older from the general population, who participated in the Tromsø Study 7. They underwent a one-time assessment of cuff algometry pressure pain tolerance (PPT) and cold pain tolerance (CPT), tested with a cold pressor test. The results showed a clear seasonal variation in CPT. The rate of withdrawal in the cold pressor test was up to 75% higher in months in the warmer parts of the year compared with January 2016. There was no seasonal variation in PPT. The study not only found a nonrandom short-term variation in PPT but also indications of such a variation in CPT. The intrinsic timescale of this short-term variation in PPT was 5.1 days (95% % confidence interval 4.0-7.2), which is similar to the observed timescales of meteorological variables. Pressure pain tolerance and CPT correlated with meteorological variables, and these correlations changed over time. Finally, temperature and barometric pressure predicted future values of PPT. These findings suggest that weather has a causal and dynamic effect on pain tolerance, which supports the common belief that weather affects pain.

人们普遍认为天气会影响疼痛。因此，我们假设天气会影响疼痛耐受性。这项研究使用了参与特罗姆瑟研究 7 的 18,000 多名 40 岁或以上普通人群受试者的数据。他们接受了袖带测压疼痛耐受性(PPT) 和冷痛耐受性(CPT)的一次性评估，通过冷压测试进行测试。结果显示 CPT 存在明显的季节性变化。与 2016 年 1 月相比，在一年中较温暖地区的几个月中，冷加压测试中的退出率高出 75%。PPT 没有季节性变化。该研究不仅发现 PPT 存在非随机短期变化，而且还发现 CPT 存在这种变化的迹象。PPT 中这种短期变化的内在时间尺度为 5.1 天（95% % 置信区间 4.0-7.2），这与观测到的气象变量的时间尺度相似。压痛耐受性和 CPT 与气象变量相关，并且这些相关性随着时间的推移而变化。最后，温度和气压预测了 PPT 的未来值。这些发现表明，天气对疼痛耐受性具有因果和动态影响，这支持了天气影响疼痛的普遍观点。