MITRAL-VALVE PROLAPSE AND AUTONOMIC FUNCTION IN PANIC DISORDER

We investigated the significance of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) and au tonomic function in 121 patients diagnosed with panic disorder (PD). T he incidence of MVP was higher in these patients (32.2%) than in the h ealthy controls (16.7%), but the difference was not significant. In th e group with PD accompanied by depression, the MVP rate was 58.1%, sig nificantly higher than the value of 25.7% observed in the PD patients without depression. The severity of MW was mild; nearly all of the cas es were silent, without cardiac murmur, and there was no problem with the left ventricular function. The coefficient of variation for R-R in tervals on electrocardiograms (CV R-R) was smaller in patients with PD than in healthy controls. The CV R-R of PD patients was significantly lower in the group with MVP than in the group without MVP, suggesting a strong association with the parasympathetic nervous system. Since t he CV R-R tended to decrease in the presence of depression, involvemen t of the parasympathetic nervous system was inferred.