Self-perceived weather sensitivity and joint pain in older people with osteoarthritis in six European countries: results from the European Project on Osteoarthritis (EPOSA)

Background: people with osteoarthritis (OA) frequently report that their joint pain is influenced by weather conditions. This study aimed to examine whether there are differences in perceived joint pain between older people with OA who reported to be weather-sensitive versus those who did not in six European countries with different climates and to identify characteristics of older persons with OA that are most predictive of perceived weather sensitivity.Methods: baseline data from the European Project on OSteoArthritis (EPOSA) were used. ACR classification criteria were used to determine OA. Participants with OA were asked about their perception of weather as influencing their pain. Using a two-week follow-up pain calendar, average self-reported joint pain was assessed (range: 0 (no pain)-10 (greatest pain intensity)). Linear regression analyses, logistic regression analyses and an independent t-test were used. Analyses were adjusted for several confounders.Results: the majority of participants with OA (67.2%) perceived the weather as affecting their pain. Weather-sensitive participants reported more pain than non-weather-sensitive participants (M?=?4.1, SD?=?2.4 versus M?=?3.1, SD?=?2.4; p?<?0.001). After adjusting for several confounding factors, the association between self-perceived weather sensitivity and joint pain remained present (B?=?0.37, p?=?0.03). Logistic regression analyses revealed that women and more anxious people were more likely to report weather sensitivity. Older people with OA from Southern Europe were more likely to indicate themselves as weather-sensitive persons than those from Northern Europe.Conclusions: weather (in)stability may have a greater impact on joint structures and pain perception in people from Southern Europe. The results emphasize the importance of considering weather sensitivity in daily life of older people with OA and may help to identify weather-sensitive older people with O

From the press to politics and back: When do media set the political agenda and when do parties set the media agenda?

Are the media a powerful influence on the topics that are discussed in politics? Can political parties determine what issues are being debated in the media? This dissertation studies the mutual influence between the media agenda and the political agenda. The existing work indicates that influence on either agenda is conditional: only under some conditions can parties set the media agenda, and -likewise- under some conditions can journalists set the political agenda. By studying attention for the issues of immigration and of European integration in newspapers and parliament in a number of West-European countries from 1995 to 2010 this dissertation identifies such conditions. Three main conclusions emerge. One, not only attention for issues is important, but framing matters as well. Parties are more likely to adopt issues from the media if the way they are framed suits them. Newspapers are more likely to report on political issues if parties are framing them divergently. Two, the media should not be seen as one, unitary influence on politics. The research in this dissertation shows that parties are mainly influenced by specific newspapers, i.e. the one their voters read. Three, the media do not always amplify existing power structures, but can also work in favor of the least powerful parties. For example, the newspaper the Volkskrant is more likely to report on issues raised by challenger parties, that have never been in government

Political Leadership in the Media: Gender Bias in Leader Stereotypes during Campaign and Routine Times

This article studies gender differences in media portrayals of political leadership, starting with the expectation that male politicians are evaluated more often on traits belonging to the male leader stereotype, and that female politicians have no such advantage. These gender differences are expected to be especially pronounced during non-campaign periods. To test these expectations, a large-scale automated content analysis of all Dutch national newspapers from September 2006 to September 2012 was conducted. The results show that male politicians received more media coverage on leadership traits in general, although the male and female leader stereotypes explain most of the variation in gender bias between leadership traits. These gender effects are found during seldom-studied routine periods but not during campaigns. As leadership trait coverage has electoral consequences, this gender-differentiated coverage likely contributes to the under-representation of women in politics