Chronic pain is one of the most common problems.
It can come from the back, neck, hips, knees, abdomen or even the entire body. In some people, the pain lasts for months or years and slowly becomes part of everyday life.
New research now suggests that this long-term pain may do more than just affect comfort and movement. It can also silently increase the risk of developing high blood pressure over time.
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, occurs when the force of blood pressing against the walls of blood vessels remains too high for too long. This extra pressure causes the heart to work harder and slowly damages the blood vessels.
Over time, it increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease and premature death. One of the biggest problems with high blood pressure is that most people don’t feel any symptoms until serious damage has already been done.
The new study, published in the journal Hypertension, looked at health data from more than 200,000 adults, with researchers looking to understand whether chronic pain could play a role in developing high blood pressure.
The researchers found that adults who lived with pain for a long time were more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who had no pain. The risk was not the same for everyone. People who had pain in many parts of the body were at greatest risk.
The more areas that hurt, the greater the chance of developing high blood pressure later. People with pain limited to one area still had a higher risk than pain-free adults, but not as high as people with widespread pain.
A major reason behind this connection appears to be mental health. The study found that people with chronic pain were more likely to develop depression. In turn, people with depression were more likely to develop high blood pressure.
People with chronic pain often develop other health problems later in life, including heart disease. Pain is not just a physical feeling, it affects mood, sleep, activity level and stress responses. All these factors are closely linked to blood pressure control.
