Chronic pain may dramatically raise your blood pressure Save

• Chronic pain appears to play a meaningful role in raising the risk of developing high blood pressure.
• How long the pain lasts and where it occurs both influence that risk, and part of the connection is explained by depression and inflammation.
• Researchers say the results underscore how important effective pain management can be for preventing and controlling high blood pressure, a major driver of cardiovascular disease and death.

Study details, background and design:

• The analysis used data from the UK Biobank, a large population-based project that recruited more than 500,000 adults ages 40-69 between 2006 and 2010. Participants lived in England, Scotland and Wales.
• This study focused on 206,963 adults. The average age was 54 years; 61.7% were women, and 96.7% were white adults.
• Overall, 35.2% of participants reported chronic musculoskeletal pain; 62.2% reported chronic pain at one body site; 34.9% had chronic pain at two to three musculoskeletal sites; and 3.2% reported pain at four sites.
• Compared with participants without pain, those reporting pain were more often women, had less healthy lifestyle patterns, larger waist circumference, higher body mass index (BMI), more long-term health issues, and were more likely to live in areas with higher unemployment, lower home and car ownership, and more overcrowding.
• Researchers adjusted for factors associated with both pain and high blood pressure, including self-reported smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, sedentary time, sleep duration, and fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Data from the UK Biobank was gathered through a touch-screen questionnaire, interview, physical measurements (height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure), and blood samples for cholesterol and blood sugar (hemoglobin A1c).
• Hospital records were used to identify high blood pressure using standard International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Problems and diagnostic codes (ICD-10 codes).
• The follow-up period was measured from baseline until one of these events occurred: a diagnosis of high blood pressure, the participant's death, or the end of available follow-up records. The first of these events marked the end of follow-up for each participant.

Pei Qin, Frederick K. Ho, Carlos A. Celis-Morales, Jill P. Pell. Chronic Pain and Hypertension and Mediation Role of Inflammation and Depression. Hypertension, 2025; DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.125.25544