Paths to panic disorder/agoraphobia: an exploratory analysis from age 3 to 21 in an unselected birth cohort.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate childhood temperamental traits and early illness experiences in the etiology of adult panic disorder with agoraphobia.


METHODS
Evaluated temperamental and illness experience factors, at ages 3 through 18, as predictors of panic and agoraphobia at ages 18 or 21 in an unselected sample (N = 992). Analyses were conducted with classification trees.


RESULTS
Experience with respiratory ill health predicted panic/agoraphobia relative to other anxiety disorders and healthy controls. Also, temperamental emotional reactivity at age 3 predicted panic/agoraphobia in males but did not predict other anxiety disorders, compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, temperament and ill health interacted with gender.


CONCLUSIONS
Results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of fear of physical symptoms and biological models of respiratory disturbance for panic/agoraphobia.
Craske
M G
MG
Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles, 90095-1563, USA. craske@psych.ucla.edu
Poulton
R
R
Tsao
J C
JC
Plotkin
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D010553:Personality Development; D013694:Temperament