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Headache Disorders: Does Pain Affect Blood Pressure?
Sweta Sengupta1, Timothy Collins2
1Department of Neurology, Duke University, 932 Morreene Road, Durham, NC, 27705, USA. sweta.sengupta@duke.edu.
Purpose Of Review:
The perspective that pain corresponds to elevated blood pressure is overly simplistic. Our objective is to investigate and debunk misconceptions regarding the effect of pain on blood pressure.
Recent Findings:
While pain can increase blood pressure in the acute setting, prolonged pain and migraine's effect on blood pressure varies and can result in lower-than-expected blood pressure. Therefore, attributing pain as a sole source of elevation of blood pressure may lead to delays in diagnosing hypertension. Based on limited studies available, comorbid pain and chronic hypertension have a higher concurrence than in the general population. We will review current literature to investigate the effect of pain on blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension in chronic pain sufferers. A better understanding of pain's effect on blood pressure will help practitioners appropriately diagnose and counsel patients without disproportionately attributing high blood pressure to pain.
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