The relationship between chronic pain, prehypertension, and hypertension. A population-based cross-sectional survey in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Chronic pain and hypertension are highly prevalent in both developing and developed countries. Although they may appear to be two separate phenomena, several studies in developed countries have found them associated at the population level. Studies in developing countries are scarce and association between pain with prehypertension are rarely explored. The objective of this study was to explore the potential association between prehypertension, hypertension, and chronic pain in a Saudi population.

Methods: A cross-sectional general population-based study was conducted on a random sample of employees and university students over a period of 6 months from January 2016 to June 2016 in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. A total of 1200 general population adults (aged 18 years and above) were invited to participate in the study.

Results: With a response rate of 85.9%, 1031 individuals were included in the final analysis. Among the general population of Al-Kharj, statistically significant association was found between age and chronic pain [Odds ratio (OR) = 1.764 [95% C.I. = 1.391–1.927], P < 0.0001] and between hypertension and chronic pain [(OR) = 1.039 [95% C.I. = 1.018–1.060], P < 0.0001], respectively. The association between prehypertension and chronic pain was not statistically significant [(OR) = 1.211 [95% C.I. = 0.879–1.668, P = 0.243].

Conclusion: Results of this survey suggests a statistically significant relationship between hypertension (but not prehypertension) and chronic pain. The temporality of the relationship between hypertension and chronic needs to be explored in future longitudinal studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Hypertension
• prehypertension
• chronic pain
• age
• prevalence
• relationship
• Saudi Arabia

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Miss Laila Mohamed Ghoneim from the American University Cairo for proofreading and English language editing that greatly improved the manuscript. This publication was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors contributions

This work was performed as a collaboration among all of the authors. SAG JAZ and KKD participated in the study design and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. BFA, SB, SMO, and THA collected and processed the samples. MMS, AEM, MA, and SMA participated in the study design and performed the statistical analyses. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript and had access to the data. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The contents of the paper and the opinions expressed within are those of the authors, and it was the decision of the authors to submit the manuscript for publication.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Prior to data collection all subjects were provided with a detailed description of the study after which their verbal as well as written informed consent was obtained. Confidentiality of the patient was maintained, and all participants had the right to withdraw from the study at any time. The study also obtained full ethical approval from the Committee of Scientific Research and Publication, based in Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University of Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received to produce this article.