D. Sheffield et al., THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESTING SYSTOLIC BLOOD-PRESSURE AND CUTANEOUS PAIN PERCEPTION IN CARDIAC PATIENTS WITH ANGINA-PECTORIS AND CONTROLS, Pain, 71(3), 1997, pp. 249-255
In order to determine the influence of resting systolic blood pressure
and stable angina on cutaneous pain perception, we studied 19 male ca
rdiac patients with stable angina and 16 male controls. Pain perceptio
n was measured using a suprathreshold evaluation of pain intensity and
pain unpleasantness to a series of thermal stimuli. We found that men
with higher resting blood pressure had a decrease in the perception o
f pain intensity and pain unpleasantness. Similarly, we found that pat
ients with stable angina perceived pain as less intense and unpleasant
than controls. These differences in pain perception may be associated
with different pain mechanisms: in the case of blood pressure, differ
ences in opioid activity and baroreceptor-regulated pain systems; in t
he case of stable angina, patients may adapt to continued experiences
of pain, altering internal frames of reference. (C) 1997 International
Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.