Treatment of panic attack and risk of major depressive disorder in the community.
OBJECTIVE
The authors' goal was to determine whether treatment of panic attacks has a protective effect on the risk of major depression in the community.


METHODS
Data were drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey, a community-based household sample representative of the U.S. adult population. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate the association between risk of first-onset major depression and panic among subjects who had or had not received treatment for panic.


RESULTS
A significantly smaller proportion of individuals who received treatment for panic (19%) than those who did not receive treatment (45%) developed major depression. This difference remained significant in a Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for age at onset of panic and differences in demographic characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
Detection and treatment of panic may reduce the risk of developing major depression.
Goodwin
R
R
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. rdg66@columbia.edu
Olfson
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology