STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT FOR PANIC DISORDER RESEARCH - A CONFERENCE REPORT

Lively controversies related to panic disorder are under active invest igation by research groups around the world. However, publications fro m different laboratories are difficult to compare since there has been little consistency in measures or even in types of assessment used to characterize and follow up patients. Participants in the recently con vened National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference o n the Treatment of Panic Disorder noted this problem and recommended e stablishment of procedures to ensure comparability of studies. We orga nized a conference of clinical investigators whose objective was to de velop a standard assessment package. Participants represented biologic al and psychosocial panic disorder treatment research sites in the Uni ted States and Canada. The 2-day conference resulted in agreement on a battery of assessments considered essential for panic disorder studie s. The purposes of our report are to disseminate the conference conclu sions and to encourage adoption of the proposed standards by clinical researchers, journal editors. Public Health Service peer review commit tees, and the Food and Drug Administration. We also identify some prob lematic issues that require further work.