RESPIRATORY DISORDERS AS A POSSIBLE PREDISPOSING FACTOR FOR PANIC DISORDER

150 consecutive anxiety patients completed a specially designed questi onnaire which asked for the occurrence of respiratory and other somati c disorders before the onset of their anxiety disorder. The sample was divided into 82 panic disorder patients and 68 other anxiety patients serving as controls. Panic disorder patients had a significantly high er prevalence of respiratory diseases before the onset of their anxiet y disorder than controls (42.7 vs. 16.2%). This higher prevalence was mainly due to a higher prevalence of bronchitis (26.8 vs. 8.8%). Diffe rences in numbers of respiratory disorders mentioned appeared not to r esult from a tendency to hypochondria.