The cold pressor test (CPT) has been widely used as a stressor in laboratory settings to examine blood pressure (BP) responsiveness in both healthy and patient populations. Current literature indicates considerable inter-individual variability in BP responsiveness to a CPT. This variability may be due to the level of perceived pain associated with the cold stress. Therefore, in the present study we tested the hypothesis that BP responsiveness would demonstrate a positive association with ratings of perceived pain during the CPT in young adults. Since sex-related differences in BP responsiveness to a CPT have been reported, we also examined if the hypothesized association between BP responsiveness and pain perception during a CPT differs between young males and females. 26 young adults (13M/13F; 21±4 yr) underwent a CPT consisting of a 2-min baseline followed by immersion of the left hand in ice water (~4°C) for 2-min. Beat-by-beat BP was recorded continuously and averaged every 30s of the CPT. Subjects provided verbal pain scores (0-10 scale) every 30s. Two-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess BP and pain over time and to determine if responses differed between sex. Additionally, Pearson correlations were used to examine the association between BP responsiveness (change (Δ) in diastolic (DBP), systolic (SBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP)), and rating of perceived pain for the entire cohort as well as for each sex. All indices of BP and perceived pain increased in response to the CPT in young adults (P<0.05 for all), with no sex-related differences noted. ΔDBP, ΔSBP, ΔMAP were not associated with pain perception for the group as a whole. When examined within sex, no association was observed between ΔDBP, ΔSBP, ΔMAP and pain perception for males at any point during the CPT. However, within females, ΔDBP, ΔSBP, and ΔMAP were positively associated with pain perception at 1-min (r=0.77, 0.57, 0.66, respectively; P<0.05 for all) but not at 2-min (r=0.36, 0.24, 0.33, respectively; P>0.05 for all) of the CPT. Contrary to previous findings, we did not observe sex-related differences in BP responsiveness to a CPT in young adults. Additionally, BP responsiveness is not associated with pain perception during the CPT in our group as a whole. However, when analyzed by sex, an association between BP responsiveness and pain perception was found in females at the early stages of the CPT (i.e. 1-min). Funding: American Physiological Society SURF Program (K.A.M.) This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.