Psychosomatic medicine
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Psychosomatic medicine · Jul 1996
The influence of resting blood pressure and gender on pain responses.
Recent research suggests that resting blood pressure is inversely related to pain sensitivity, even among normotensives; however, most of these studies have included only male participants. To determine whether this hypoalgesic effect of blood pressure was also present in females, we investigated thermal and ischemic pain responses in a group of age-matched, normotensive females and males as a function of resting blood pressure. Thermal pain threshold and tolerance were determined, and a cross-modality thermal magnitude matching procedure was conducted, after which ischemic pain threshold and tolerance were determined using the submaximal effort tourniquet procedure. ⋯ These findings are consistent with previous research indicating an inverse relationship between blood pressure and pain sensitivity. Additionally, the findings also suggest that blood pressure may partially moderate gender differences in pain sensitivity. Potential mechanisms and clinical implications of the current findings are discussed.