Patients with throat problems were less able to regulate their blood pressure in a new study led by the University of Southampton.
The study published in JAMA Otolaryngology is the first to observe reduced baroreflex sensitivity in patients with throat symptoms.
The baroreflex is a crucial part of the autonomic nervous system which detects changes in blood pressure and adjusts our heart rate and blood vessel tone accordingly to maintain stable blood pressure. It is what stops us from fainting when we stand up.
Researchers from the University of Southampton and University Hospitals of Dorset Foundation Trust believe the findings could be explained by the Vagas nerve (which controls the autonomic nervous system) prioritising protection of the airways over less urgent functions, such as blood pressure regulation.
"Our immediate survival depends on the throat being able to separate air and food passages each time we swallow," says the lead author of the study Reza Nouraei, Professor of Laryngology and Clinical Informatics at the University of Southampton.
"The throat does this using delicate reflexes, but when these reflexes are disturbed, for example, due to a viral infection like Covid or exposure to reflux affecting nerves in this region, the control of this critical junction becomes compromised, giving rise to symptoms like the feeling of a lump in the throat, throat clearing and coughing.
