EFFECT OF AGING ON CHOLECYSTOKININ-INDUCED PANIC

Objective: Epidemiologic surveys have found that the incidence and pre valence of panic disorder decline in later life. The goal of this stud y was to determine whether aging has an effect on healthy subjects' re sponses to the panicogenic agent cholecystokinin tetrapeptide (CCK-4). Method: The study used a double-blind, placebo-controlled design: 40 subjects 20-35 years old and 40 subjects 65 years old or older were ra ndomly assigned to receive an intravenous bolus of either 50 mu g of C CK-4 or normal saline. Results: When given CCK-4, older subjects had s ignificantly fewer and less intense symptoms of panic, shorter duratio n of symptoms, and less of an increase in heart rate than did younger subjects. Conclusions: This study found art age-related change in resp onsiveness to CCK-4. Further research to delineate the mechanism of th is change is warranted.