The Influence of Low Blood Pressure and Baroreceptor Activity on Pain Responses
Section snippets
Subjects
Subjects were 39 men (mean age: 25.3 ± 4.6, range: 18–40 years) recruited from the University of Tübingen (Germany) main refectory.
They were subjected to 9 BP measurements and then split into 2 equally sized groups, according to the mean systolic BP. The low BP group consisted of 19 subjects (systolic BP 116.9 ± 6.1 mmHg; diastolic BP 74.27 ± 7.0 mmHg) and the normal BP group, 20 (systolic BP 135.3 ± 7.2 mmHg; diastolic BP 78.0 ± 7.6 mmHg).
All subjects signed a consent form summarizing the
Sensory and Pain Thresholds
There was a negative correlation between diastolic BP and sensory threshold (r = −0.435, p < 0.006; without the most extreme point r = −0.478, p < 0.003).
Furthermore, a positive correlation (r = 0.266, p < 0.106; without the most extreme point r = 0.369, p < 0.02) was found between systolic BP and pain threshold.
However, the correlations between systolic BP and sensory threshold (r = 0.107; without the most extreme point r = 0.047), and between diastolic BP and pain threshold (r = −0.034;
Discussion
Overall, the results showed a different pattern of pain processing in hypotensives. The difference was observed at more levels. Both self-reported pain ratings and somatosensory potentials evoked during baroreceptor activation showed a lack of the pain inhibition typically observed in normotensive and hypertensive subjects. Furthermore, the different correlations found between perceptual/pain thresholds and systolic/diastolic blood pressure let us hypothesize the existence of a different
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and by Vigoni Program to the first author.
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