Nov 17 Depression and inflammation resulting from chronic pain, persisting for longer than three months, could increase the chances of high blood pressure in adults, according to an analysis.
The study, published in the Hypertension journal, reviewed data of over two lakh adults from the UK Biobank. Nearly 10 per cent of the individuals were found to have developed a high blood pressure after an average follow-up period of 13.5 years.
People with widespread chronic pain had the highest risk of developing high blood pressure -- a 75 per cent increased risk compared to those without pain.
Short-term pain was associated with a 10 per cent higher risk and localised chronic pain was linked with a 20 per cent higher risk, the study said.
"The more widespread their pain, the higher their risk of developing high blood pressure," lead author Jill Pell, professor of public health at the University of Glasgow, UK, said.
According to Pell, part of the explanation for this finding was that chronic pain made people more likely to suffer from depression, and having depression made people more likely to develop high blood pressure.
"This suggests that early detection and treatment of depression, among people with pain, may help to reduce their risk of developing high blood pressure," Pell said.
Over 35 per cent of the participants reported experiencing chronic musculo-skeletal pain, 62.2 per cent reported chronic pain at one site of the body, while 34.9 per cent reported chronic pain at two to three musculo-skeletal sites.
"Over a median follow-up of 13.5 years, 19,911 (9.62 per cent) participants developed hypertension. Compared with no pain, those with short-term pain, chronic localised pain, and chronic widespread pain had an increased risk of hypertension," the study read.
While inflammation and depression are both known to raise the risk of high blood pressure, no prior studies have looked at the extent to which these factors mediate the link between pain and high blood pressure, Pell said.
"Together, depression (11.3 per cent) and inflammation (0.4 per cent), as measured by C-reactive protein, mediated 11.7 per cent of the association between chronic pain and hypertension," the study said.
The participants' pain and depression was gauged by their responses to questionnaires. They provided information about whether they had experienced pain in the last month that interfered with their usual activities.
Depression was gauged based on a participant's frequency of depressed mood, disinterest, restlessness or lethargy in the previous two weeks, while inflammation was measured through blood tests for C-reactive protein.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
