Dissociation between reduced pain and arterial blood pressure following epidural spinal cord stimulation in patients with chronic pain: A retrospective study

Purpose Acute pain and resting arterial blood pressure (BP) are positively correlated in patients with chronic pain. However, it remains unclear whether treatment for chronic pain reduces BP. Therefore, in a retrospective study design, we tested the hypothesis that implantation of an epidural spinal cord stimulator (SCS) device to treat chronic pain would significantly reduce clinic pain ratings and BP and that these reductions would be significantly correlated. Methods Pain ratings and BP in medical records were collected before and after surgical implantation of a SCS device at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics between 2008 and 2018 ( n = 213). Results Reductions in pain rating [6.3 ± 2.0 vs. 5.0 ± 1.9 (scale: 0–10), P