Panic disorder in a breath-holding challenge test: a simple tool for a better diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to observe if anxiety disorder patients - DSM-IV - respond in a similar way to the induction of panic attacks by a breath-holding challenge test.


METHODS
We randomly selected 29 panic disorder (PD) patients, 27 social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients, 21 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients. They were induced to breath-hold for as long as possible four times with two-minute interval between them. Anxiety scales were applied before and after the test.


RESULTS
A total of 44.8% (n=13) PD patients, 14.8% (n=4) SAD patients, 9.5% (n=2) GAD patients had a panic attack after the test (c = 21.44, df= 2, p=0.001). There was no heart rate or anxiety levels difference among the groups before and after the test.


CONCLUSIONS
In this breath-holding challenge test the panic disorder patients were more sensitive than other anxiety disorder patients.
Laboratory of Panic & Respiration, Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. aenardi@novanet.com.br
Antonio E
AE
Nardi
Isabella
I
Nascimento
Alexandre M
AM
Valença
Fabiana L
FL
Lopes
Marco A
MA
Mezzasalma
Walter A
WA
Zin
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001944:Breath Tests; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012119:Respiration