MHPG AND HEART-RATE AS CORRELATES OF NONRESPONSE TO DRUG-THERAPY IN PANIC DISORDER PATIENTS - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT

Little is known about biological predictors of treatment response in p anic disorder (PD). In the present study heart rate, blood pressure, p lasma cortisol and plasma MHPG were investigated at baseline in a samp le of 44 PD patients as possible predictors for nonresponse to treatme nt. We used a strict definition of nonresponse to find patients who di d not respond at all after 12 weeks of treatment with brofaromine or f luvoxamine. Patients were considered nonresponders when they fulfilled two criteria: they did not show a 50% reduction of agoraphobic avoida nce and they still experienced panic attacks at endpoint. The variable s that differed significantly between the groups were used to predict nonresponse to drug therapy. Using this strict definition of nonrespon se, 15 patients (32.6%) were considered nonresponders. These patients were characterised by a higher plasma MHPG concentration and a higher heart rate at baseline. These variables were subsequently used to pred ict nonresponse.