SUBTYPING PANIC DISORDERS ACCORDING TO TH EIR SYMPTOMS

BACKGROUND: Panic disorder (PD) is a common illness associated with hi gh levels of disability and with a high utilisation of non-psychiatric health services which is inefficient in most cases, A better understa nding of the clinical subtyping of PD may improve diagnosis both in ps ychiatric and medical settings. The present study is aimed at assessin g the frequency, factorial grouping and comorbity of PD symptoms in a naturalistic sample of patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All consecutive cases of PD (n = 442) who contacted with two outpatient clinics in Ba rcelona (Spain) were assessed by two experienced interviewers, Assessm ent instrument included SCID-UP-R interview and inventory of panic sym ptoms based on DSM-III-R. RESULTS: Palpitations (86.7%), shortness of breath (76.5%), fear of dying (69.9%) and dizziness (63.6%) were the m ost frequent and intense symptoms reported by the PD patients. The pri ncipal component analysis revealed four factors which explained the 56 % of the variance: ''cardiorespiratory'' (23.2%), ''depersonalization- derealization'' (15.8%), ''vestibular'' (10%) and ''mixed'' (7%). CONC LUSIONS: The frequency of presentation of symptoms was similar to othe r studies. However some disimilarities appeared that may be attributed to transcultural differences as well as terminological problems and t he range of symptoms assessed, Factors found in the present study supp ort the clinical subtyping of PD in 3 groups characterised by cardiore spiratory symptoms and fear of dying, cognitive symptoms (depersonaliz ation-derealization) and vestibular symptoms such as dizziness and fai ntness.