The team, led by Dr Cormac Ryan from Teesside University, is calling for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain to be made a public health priority and say it could act as a prevention strategy for cardiovascular disease.
Researchers at Teesside University collaborated with academics in Northern Ireland and America to look at a sample of over 5,300 adults aged over 45-years-old. The sample of people had participated in the Health Survey for England in 2008.
"Chronic musculoskeletal pain is also associated with increased inflammation activity within the body which could contribute towards atherosclerosis which is a hardening or narrowing of the arteries.
"It is also associated with obesity, via reduced physical activity and increased non-hunger related feeding, and obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
"Finally, chronic musculoskeletal pain is itself a stressful experience and the associated functional and socioeconomic consequences of chronic pain can also be stressful for the individual, again stress is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
"Clinically, this study suggests the intriguing implication that chronic musculoskeletal pain may be a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
"Considering, on average, 10% of the world's population report chronic musculoskeletal pain, this could have far reaching implications for cardiovascular disease prevention, giving support to previous calls for chronic musculoskeletal pain to be considered as a public health priority."