Association of Hypertension with Knee Pain Severity Among People with Knee Osteoarthritis.
Xiaojun Shi, Elizabeth A Schlenk
PMID 34474997WHAT IT FOUND
People with knee osteoarthritis and stage 2 hypertension reported worse knee pain over 7 and 30 days than those with normal blood pressure, even after accounting for age, body size, depression, activity, arthritis severity, and pain medicines.
Elevated or stage 1 hypertension did not.
Key findings
01After accounting for age, body mass index, depression, physical activity, arthritis severity, and pain medication use, stage 2 hypertension was associated with worse knee pain over 7 days and 30 days compared with normal blood pressure.
02In unadjusted comparisons, knee pain severity increased as blood pressure category increased across all three pain measures.
03People with elevated blood pressure or stage 1 hypertension did not differ significantly in knee pain severity from people with normal blood pressure after adjustment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that hypertension caused worse knee pain or that treating hypertension would improve pain. Blood pressure was measured once and was not confirmed as a clinical hypertension diagnosis, so participants may have been misclassified. The analysis did not account for how long participants had hypertension or for pain caused by other diseases. The sample was mainly older, white, well-educated, sedentary, and obese participants with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, so the results may not apply to other groups. The study used only the progression sub-cohort, so it does not address people without symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that hypertension causes worse knee osteoarthritis pain or that lowering blood pressure will reduce knee pain. This was a cross-sectional association using one-time blood pressure measurements, not a treatment trial.