Specific sensitivity of patients with panic attacks to carbon dioxide inhalation

Zin

et al. 1999

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

Section: Alprazolammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two most common methods used are the prolonged 4 , displaying enough specificity for panic disorder 5 . Carbon dioxide induced panic attacks closely resemble the kind patients with panic disorder experience outside the laboratory [6][7][8] , and therefore carbon dioxide panic seems a valid analog of spontaneous panic attacks.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dioxide induced panic attacks and short term clonazepam treatment: preliminary study

Zin

et al. 1999

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

“…The inhalation of high concentrations of CO 2 has also consistently been shown to increase anxiety and induce panic attacks in PD patients (9,10). A CO 2 -induced panic attack closely resembles the panic attack PD patients experience outside the laboratory (9) and is one of the most reliable panicogenic agents (9,10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical features of panic patients sensitive to hyperventilation or breath-holding methods for inducing panic attacks

Lopes

et al. 2004

Braz J Med Biol Res

Our aim was to compare the clinical features of panic disorder (PD) patients sensitive to hyperventilation or breath-holding methods of inducing panic attacks. Eighty-five PD patients were submitted to both a hyperventilation challenge test and a breath-holding test. They were asked to hyperventilate (30 breaths/min) for 4 min and a week later to hold their breath for as long as possible, four times with a 2-min interval. Anxiety scales were applied before and after the tests. We selected the patients who responded with a panic attack to just one of the tests, i.e., those who had a panic attack after hyperventilating (HPA, N = 24, 16 females, 8 males, mean age ± SD = 38.5 ± 12.7 years) and those who had a panic attack after breath holding (BHPA, N = 20, 11 females, 9 males, mean age ± SD = 42.1 ± 10.6 years). Both groups had similar (χ 2 = 1.28, d.f. = 1, P = 0.672) respiratory symptoms (fear of dying, chest/pain disconfort, shortness of breath, paresthesias, and feelings of choking) during a panic attack. The criteria of Briggs et al. [British Journal of Psychiatry, 1993; 163: 201-209] for respiratory PD subtype were fulfilled by 18 (75.0%) HPA patients and by 14 (70.0%) BHPA patients. The HPA group had a later onset of the disease compared to BHPA patients (37.9 ± 11.0 vs 21.3 ± 12.9 years old, Mann-Whitney, P < 0.001), and had a higher family prevalence of PD (70.8 vs 25.0%, χ 2 = 19.65, d.f. = 1, P = 0.041). Our data suggest that these two groups -HPA and BHPA patients -may be specific subtypes of PD. Correspondence

“…The inhalation of high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) has consistently been shown to increase anxiety and induce panic attacks in PD patients 12,13 . Carbon dioxide induced panic attacks closely resemble the panic attack PD patients experience outside the laboratory 14 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Panic disorder in a breath-holding challenge test: a simple tool for a better diagnosis

Nascimento

et al. 2003

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

-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. Method: 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 (χ²= 21.44, df= 2, p=0.001). There was no heart rate or anxiety levels difference among the groups before and after the test. Conclusion: In this breathholding challenge test the panic disorder patients were more sensitive than other anxiety disorder patients.