ASSOCIATION BETWEEN JOINT HYPERMOBILITY SYNDROME AND PANIC DISORDER

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess whether joint hyper mobility syndrome is more frequent in patients with panic disorder, ag oraphobia, or both than in control subjects and, if so, to determine w hether mitral valve prolapse modifies or accounts in part for the asso ciation. Method: A case-control study was conducted in a general teach ing hospital outpatient clinic. Subjects were 99 patients, newly diagn osed and untreated, with panic disorder, agoraphobia, or both and two groups of age- and sex-matched control subjects: 99 psychiatric patien ts and 64 medical patients who had never suffered from any anxiety dis order. Measures consisted of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM -III-R, Beighton's criteria for joint hypermobility syndrome, and two- dimensional and M-mode echocardiogram. The presence of mitral valve pr olapse and joint hypermobility syndrome was explored by raters who wer e blind to subjects' psychiatric status. Results: Joint hypermobility syndrome was found in 67.7% of patients with anxiety disorder but in o nly 10.1% of psychiatric and 12.5% of medical control subjects. On the basis of statistical analysis, patients with anxiety disorder were ov er 16 times more likely than control subjects to have joint laxity. Th ese findings were not altered after the presence of mitral valve prola pse was taken into account. Of the patients with anxiety disorder, tho se who had joint hypermobility syndrome were younger and more often wo men and had an earlier onset of the disorder than those without joint hypermobility syndrome. Conclusions: Joint laxity is highly prevalent in patients with panic disorder, agoraphobia, or both and may reflect a constitutional disposition to suffer from anxiety. Mitral valve prol apse plays a secondary role in the association between joint hypermobi lity and anxiety.