title: Somatic, but not cognitive, symptoms of anxiety predict lower levels of physical activity in panic disorder patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety disorders have gathered much attention as possible risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), possibly mediated by an unhealthy lifestyle (e.g. low physical activity). However, prospective studies on anxiety disorders and CVD show conflicting results. A possible explanation is that somatic symptoms of anxiety may have a more specific cardiovascular effect than cognitive symptoms across different anxiety disorders. The present study investigated the association between cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety and physical activity (PA) in a sample of panic disorder (PD) outpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and two outpatients with a lifetime diagnosis of PD from a previously studied cohort were contacted. Patients were evaluated throughout the MINI, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). After performing a multivariate regression analysis, groups were divided into high and low somatic anxiety.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with high somatic anxiety showed a significantly higher prevalence of low level of PA as compared to those with low somatic anxiety (62.5 versus 34.3%; χ²= 5.33; df=1; P=.021). Somatic symptoms of anxiety remained the only important predictors of low level of PA (odds ratio [OR] 2.81; 95% CI 1.00-7.90; p=.050) in the multivariate model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main limitations of the present study are the cross-sectional design and the small sample size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results support specific effects of somatic symptoms of anxiety on risk for low level of PA, which might explain inconsistent results regarding CVD risk in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; Post-graduation Program in Medical Sciences: Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. Electronic address: cristianotbs@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Cristiano Tschiedel
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Belem da Silva
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; Post-graduation Program in Medical Sciences: Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schuch
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Unit, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Brazil.
authors.forename: Vania
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hirakata
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; Post-graduation Program in Medical Sciences: Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Gisele Gus
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Manfro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Cardiovascular; Dimensions; Exercise; Panic; Somatic