Voluntary breath holding in panic and generalized anxiety disorders.
Psychosom Med
; 60(6): 671-9, 1998.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9847025
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Because breath holding causes arterial pCO2 to increase, we used it to test the hypothesis that in panic disorder (PD) a biological suffocation monitor is pathologically sensitive.METHOD:
Nineteen patients with PD, 17 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 22 normal controls took deep breaths on signal and held them until a release signal was given 30 seconds later. This was repeated 12 times separated by 60-second normal breathing periods.RESULTS:
PD patients reported having had in the past more symptoms of shortness of breath when anxious, and more frequent frightening suffocation experiences than the other groups. However, increases in self-rated anxiety between periods of normal breathing and periods of breath holding were similar in all three groups. Skin conductance, blood pressure, and T-wave amplitude reactions to breath holdings were also similar, but heart rate acceleration upon taking a deep breath was greater in GAD patients. Before and after individual breath holdings, end-tidal pCO2 was lower in PD patients than in normal controls; GAD patients were intermediate. Inspiratory flow rate did not differ between groups.CONCLUSIONS:
Our physiological results provide no direct support for an overly sensitive suffocation alarm system in PD. Lower pCO2 may be due to anxiety causing hyperventilation in patients prone to panic.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety Disorders
/
Panic
/
Apnea
/
Panic Disorder
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Psychosom Med
Year:
1998
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States