Clinical and subthreshold panic disorder

Summary & key facts

This paper used a large U.S. household survey to compare people with full panic disorder and those with subthreshold panic symptoms. It found that people with subthreshold panic often had other mental health problems, used more health care, and had more trouble at work. The study used a conservative definition of panic disorder and drew its cases from a weighted sample of 9,585 adults (with more than 900 people with panic or subthreshold panic). The authors say more research is needed on how different levels of panic symptoms affect daily functioning and quality of life.

Key facts:

• The full survey sample included 9,585 adults; the analyses focused on people with panic or subthreshold panic drawn from that sample (over 900 people).
• Lifetime prevalence of panic disorder (PD) is reported as about 1–3% in the general population, and 3.0–8.3% of patients in clinical settings meet criteria for current PD.
• Up to 80% of people with PD have at least one other psychiatric diagnosis.
• Major depressive disorder (MDD) was reported in 32–70% of people with PD in prior studies cited by the paper.
• About 42% of patients with PD had comorbid generalized anxiety disorder in cited studies, and bipolar disorder was reported as eight times more common among people with panic attacks compared to those without.
• Work and productivity problems are common: one estimate put unemployment among PD populations at ~25%, and one study noted only 57% of PD sufferers were employed full-time. Untreated PD was estimated to be associated with about 12 missed wo
• Health-care use is high: 57% of PD patients initially sought treatment at a hospital emergency department in cited work; direct treatment costs were reported to rise from $29,158 in the year before diagnosis to $46,256 in the year after dia
• The study used a relatively conservative definition of PD that required panic symptoms plus measurable limits in social or role functioning on SF-12 and Sickness Impact Profile items.
• The paper concludes that psychiatric comorbidity and health-care use are common among people with subthreshold panic and that more research is needed on how varying levels of panic symptoms relate to impairment and quality of life.

Abstract

Psychiatric comorbidities and health-care utilization are common among patients with subthreshold panic. The relationship between varying degrees of panic symptomology and other mental health problems and indices of functioning impairment warrants further investigation. These results inform further research focusing on the course of subthreshold PD and its impact on quality of life.

Topics

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Mental Health Research Topics Mental Health Treatment and Access

Categories

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Anxiety Clinical psychology Comorbidity Depression (economics) Economics Environmental health Macroeconomics Medicine Mental health National Comorbidity Survey Panic Panic disorder Physics Population Psychiatry Psychology Quantum mechanics Subthreshold conduction Transistor Voltage

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Panic disorder and phobias Panic