Voluntary breath holding: not a suitable probe of the suffocation alarm in panic disorder.
Voluntary breath-holding duration was investigated in patients with panic disorder, patients with a mood disorder, and normal controls. There were no differences in mean breath-holding durations, but the pattern of scores was different among groups. Furthermore, the scores were influenced by motivational and cognitive factors. It is argued that voluntary breath-holding is not a suitable test to measure carbon dioxide sensitivity or suffocation alarm threshold in panic disorder.
Willem Van der Does
A J
AJ
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001049:Apnea / Q000523:psychology*; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000523:psychology*; D015415:Biomarkers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014836:Volition / Q000502:physiology*
D015415:Biomarkers