title: Risk factors for panic disorder in pregnancy: a cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The study investigates the prevalence of Panic Disorder (PD) with or without comorbid Major (MD) or Minor Depressive (md) disorder during pregnancy and focuses its attention on the different pattern of risk factors in these two subgroups in a sample of women attending two Centres for Prenatal Care of the Public Health Service.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-hundred and seventy-seven pregnant women were assessed monthly throughout the whole pregnancy period using the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) for the screening of PD and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for the evaluation of severity of anxious and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one women (7.5%) were diagnosed as affected by PD, of whom 12 (57.1%) showed MD or md comorbidity. The development of PD without depressive comorbidity is predicted by a history of previous episodes of Anxiety Disorders while the development of PD plus depressive comorbidity is predicted by a history of previous depressive episodes and by the lack of familiar support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the small sample size of our anxious and depressed women, the present data need to be verified by using larger samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequent association between PD and MD or md, the analysis of risk factors and of temporal relationship strongly suggests that the panic-depressive comorbidity might represent in fact depressive disorders with intense anxiety symptoms. These findings raise the question if the PD-depressive association is a true comorbidity or reveals the anxious symptomatology of a depressive disorder (MD or md).
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatric Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Department of Mental Health, Local Health Service, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: carlo.marchesi@unipr.it.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marchesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Local Health Service, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ampollini
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatric Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paraggio
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatric Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giaracuni
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatric Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ossola
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatric Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Department of Mental Health, Local Health Service, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Panfilis
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Local Health Service, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tonna
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, University Hospital, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Viviani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Comorbidity; Major depression; Minor depression; Panic Disorder; Pregnancy; Risk factors