Abstract

Background: It is documented that patients suffering with chronic somatic pain have altered symapathovagal activity which reflects the autonomic imbalance. Ladies suffer more with chronic pain especially backache. Since most of the work on it is done outside the country, we tried to see the autonomic changes in Indian female patients suffering with chronic somatic pain. Method: Thirty three female patients suffering from chronic somatic pain (duration 6months or more) were included to see its effect on autonomic nervous system. These patients were compared with age and sex matched twenty two controls. A battery of non invasive autonomic function tests was done to observe the status of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity in both groups. Result: The study revealed increased sympathetic and decrease parasympathetic activity in patients with chronic pain. In females of younger age group, the autonomic changes were less as compared with elderly ladies. Conclusion: It appears that there is possibility of altered symapathovagal response in females with chronic pain, the mechanism of which is still unclear. It seems as there may be some protection in young females by female sex hormones. It may also be due to psychological changes involving the limbic system due to persistent pain.

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