Key result
Pain tolerance improved the prediction of changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over 5 years beyond baseline blood pressure, parental history of hypertension, and body mass index.
Why the study?
Does pain sensitivity predict changes in blood pressure in adolescent boys?
Cohort (n=115)
Does pain sensitivity predict changes in blood pressure in adolescent boys?
Pain sensitivity in adolescence may be associated with physiological processes involved in the development of sustained high blood pressure.
May enhance BP trajectory prediction in adolescent boys; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
A growing literature has observed a significant reduction in pain sensitivity among hypertensive animals and humans. It is uncertain whether a reduced sensitivity to pain can be observed in nonnotensive individuals who go on to develop high blood pressure. Blood pressure (BP) was reassessed in one hundred fifteen 19-year-old boys initially tested at age 14, when they were also presented with a pain stimulus (mechanical finger pressure). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that information regarding pain tolerance improved prediction of changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure beyond that afforded by differences in BP at age 14, parental history of hypertension, and body mass index. These analyses suggest that pain sensitivity may be associated with physiological processes involved in the development of sustained high blood pressure.
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Campbell et al. (2002) conducted a cohort in High blood pressure (n=115). Pain sensitivity was evaluated on Changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Pain tolerance improved the prediction of changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over 5 years beyond baseline blood pressure, parental history of hypertension, and body mass index.
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