Paths to panic disorder/agoraphobia: An exploratory analysis from age 3 to21 in an unselected birth cohort

Objective: To evaluate childhood temperamental traits and early illness exp eriences in the etiology of adult panic disorder with agoraphobia. Method: Evaluated temperamental and illness experience factors. at ages 3 through 1 8, as predictors of panic and agoraphobia at ages 18 or 21 in an unselected sample (N = 992). Analyses were conducted with classification trees. Resul ts: Experience with respiratory ill health predicted panic/agoraphobia rela tive to other anxiety disorders and healthy controls. Also, temperamental e motional reactivity at age 3 predicted panic/agoraphobia in males but did n ot predict other anxiety disorders, compared with healthy controls. Further more, temperament and ill health interacted with gender. Conclusions: Resul ts are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of fear of physical symptom s and biological models of respiratory disturbance for panic/agoraphobia.