Sex differences in pain perception and cardiovascular responses in personswith parental history for hypertension

We investigated gender differences in cardiovascular and pain responses to the cold pressor (CP) test in persons with positive (PH+) or negative paren tal history (PH-) for hypertension. Previous work has suggested an attenuat ed sensitivity to painful stimulation in hypertensive men and more recently in men with parental disposition for hypertension. It is not known whether this hypoalgesic effect is present in PH+ women. In this study, we evaluat ed differences in pain perception between men and women with PH+ or PH- usi ng an assessment method to measure current as well as delayed pain. Partici pants rated their pain every 15 s during a 90-s hand CP (0-4 degrees C) and a 90-s post-CP rest period. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP, D BP) and heart rate (HR) were measured before, during, and after the CP. PH and PH- groups did not differ in age, height, weight, education, resting S EP, DBP, or HR. PH+ men showed greater DBP responses to the CP than PH- men , while female groups did not differ in cardiovascular responses to the CP. Although pain ratings during the CP did not differ between groups, post-CP reported pain receded faster in the PH+ men than in the PH- men. PH+ women , on the other hand, tended to report greater pain than PH- women. These fi ndings question the generalizability of the hypoalgesic effects in hyperten sion-prone women. (C) 1999 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.