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* Panic Disorder
Psychosomatics 45:69-79, February 2004
© 2004 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

Nonfearful Panic Disorder in Chest Pain Patients

Christine Bull Bringager, M.D., Toril Dammen, M.D, Ph.D., and Svein Friis, M.D., Ph.D.

Received Oct. 3, 2002; revision received April 11, 2003; accepted April 28, 2003. From the Department of Psychiatry, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Address reprint requests to Dr. Bringager, Department of Psychiatry, Ullevål University Hospital, 0407 Oslo, Norway; c.b.bringager{at}psykiatri.uio.no (e-mail).


  ABSTRACT

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
The prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder (panic attacks without the experience of fear) was estimated in 199 patients consecutively referred to outpatient cardiac investigation for chest pain. Fifty-nine patients met the criteria for panic disorder, and 17 patients fulfilled the criteria for nonfearful panic disorder. The patients with nonfearful panic disorder had lower scores on self-reported panic symptoms and lower frequencies of agoraphobia and comorbid axis I disorders than the patients with panic disorder and had a higher prevalence of somatic disorders than the patients without panic disorder. The patients with nonfearful panic disorder did not differ significantly from the patients with panic disorder in health-related quality of life.


  INTRODUCTION

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
In cardiac settings, panic disorder commonly occurs among chest pain patients, with a reported prevalence of 25%–60%.15 Beitman et al.6,7 recognized a subgroup of patients with panic disorder in medical settings who had panic attacks without the experience of fear. They did not report free-floating anxiety, fear of dying, or fear of going crazy or doing something uncontrolled in conjunction with their panic attacks, but they otherwise met the criteria for panic disorder. Thus, these patients described attacks of intense discomfort and at least four of the 12 remaining symptoms listed in the DSM-III-R definition of panic disorder.8 Beitman et al. used the term "nonfearful panic disorder" to describe the condition of the patients who fulfilled these criteria.

Nonfearful panic disorder is an understudied concept that may be clinically important in medical settings where patients with panic disorder are often seen. Three previous studies of patients who were referred for cardiac investigation due to chest pain and who suffered from panic disorder reported that 32%–44% fulfilled the criteria for nonfearful panic disorder.6,9,10 These studies were carried out among selected cardiac patients: patients with atypical angina or nonanginal chest pain,6 patients referred for angiography with a negative result,9 and emergency department patients with acute chest pain.10 We are not aware of any study reporting the prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder in unselected cardiology outpatients referred for investigation of new chest pain. If nonfearful panic disorder is a subcategory of panic disorder, we hypothesize that among the patients with panic disorder referred for cardiac investigation of new chest pain, there will be a subgroup of patients with nonfearful panic disorder.

The concept of nonfearful panic disorder is somewhat controversial, as it remains unclear whether nonfearful panic disorder is a subcategory of panic disorder, or a distinct diagnostic entity. Previous studies have so far concluded that it is reasonable to regard nonfearful panic disorder as a subcategory of panic disorder, as there are more similarities than differences between patients who meet the criteria for nonfearful panic disorder and those who meet the criteria for panic disorder. These studies have reported no significant differences between the two groups in demographic characteristics, intensity and frequency of panic attacks,6,10 and prevalence of panic disorder in first-degree relatives.9 However, one study found a lower frequency of simple phobia in patients with nonfearful panic disorder, compared to patients with panic disorder.6 Furthermore, a study by Fleet et al.10 reported a lower frequency of generalized anxiety disorder and agoraphobia among patients with nonfearful panic disorder.

Considering alternative diagnoses to nonfearful panic disorder, Fleet et al.10 suggested that somatoform disorders or undiagnosed medical diseases could be possible explanations of panic-like symptoms described as nonfearful panic disorder. Based on the idea that nonfearful panic disorder symptoms are more correctly classified as somatoform disorder, we would expect the patients with nonfearful panic disorder to fulfill the diagnostic criteria for such a disease. Similarly, if nonfearful panic disorder symptoms could rather be explained by a somatic disorder, we would expect that a large proportion of patients with nonfearful panic disorder would suffer from a somatic disease characterized by panic-like symptoms. Previous studies have neither diagnosed somatoform disorders through structured diagnostic interviews nor evaluated the presence of medical disorders. Therefore, the relationship between panic disorder, nonfearful panic disorder, and somatoform or somatic disorders is unknown.

It has also been emphasized that in future research there is a need to address alexithymia (not having words to express feelings) as a possible explanation for nonfearful panic disorder symptoms. Jones11 described alexithymic panic in a case report in 1984 and Rachman et al.12 reported "noncognitive" panic attacks and suggested that patients with these symptoms were unable to detect, recall, or describe their fearful cognitions. According to this hypothesis, we would expect to find a higher frequency of alexithymia among patients with nonfearful panic disorder than among patients with panic disorder. If this is the case, it may have implications for the treatment of this group of patients.

Because patients with nonfearful panic disorder complain solely of somatic symptoms, these patients are less likely to be acknowledged as having an anxiety disorder and thus may not be referred to psychiatric treatment.7 To motivate physicians to identify patients with nonfearful panic disorder, there is a need for further knowledge regarding the extent to which these patients are impaired by their disorder and seek medical treatment for symptoms. Fleet et al.10 conducted a 2-year follow-up study and found no significant differences between patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder in perceived health status and number of chest pain episodes, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations. A number of investigations of health-related quality of life among patients with panic disorder in psychiatric settings have found that patients with panic disorder report their mental and physical health as worse compared to the general population, regardless of the frequency of panic attacks or presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders.13,14 We are not aware of any study comparing the health-related quality of life in patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder. However, based on the results of the follow-up study by Fleet et al.,10 we expect the health-related quality of life both in patients with panic disorder and in those with nonfearful panic disorder to be deteriorated.

The aims of the present study were to investigate the prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder in patients referred to outpatient cardiac investigation for chest pain and to compare patients with panic disorder, nonfearful panic disorder, and no panic disorder in terms of 1) demographic variables; 2) self-reported anxiety, agoraphobia, and somatization; 3) presence of comorbid axis I disorders, including somatoform disorder; 4) presence of somatic disorders; 5) presence of alexithymia; and 6) health-related quality of life.


  METHOD

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
Subjects
The subjects were drawn from a group of 301 patients consecutively referred to a cardiological outpatient investigation of chest pain of unknown etiology at four cardiology units from December 1994 to November 1996. Two hundred sixty-four patients met the following inclusion criteria: 1) referral for investigation of a main complaint of chest pain, 2) no prior documented organic heart disease, 3) age 18–65 years, 4) no psychosis, 5) ability to understand and write the Norwegian language, and 6) provision of signed informed consent. Of the 264 patients, 199 agreed to participate. Participants and nonparticipants did not differ significantly on any variables such as age, sex, prevalence of coronary artery risk factors, and prevalence of comorbid medical diseases/conditions. Forty-nine percent of the subjects were women. The subjects' mean age was 50.4 years (SD=9.4). Significantly more patients who were study participants received a diagnosis of coronary artery disease, compared to the nonparticipants (32 [16.1%] of 199 versus two [3.2%] of 63) ({chi}2=7.1, df=1, p=0.005).4

Procedure
The head of each medical outpatient clinic screened all referrals according to the inclusion criteria. Patients considered eligible for study inclusion received a letter with a proposed appointment for a psychiatric interview, along with information about the purpose of the study. The psychiatric interview and the self-report questionnaires were completed before the cardiological evaluation. The patient characteristics and the study procedure have been described in more detail in a previous report.4

Study Groups
Three groups were compared: patients with panic disorder, patients with nonfearful panic disorder, and patients with no panic disorder. Patients received a diagnosis of panic disorder if they met the criteria for panic disorder according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).15 Patients received a diagnosis of nonfearful panic disorder if they reported having recurrent, unexpected attacks of intense discomfort without a fear of dying, going crazy, or losing control and reported at least four of the remaining symptoms of a panic attack according to the criteria described by Beitman et al.6 and adjusted to reflect the DSM-IV16 criteria (Table 1). The patients with no panic disorder did not meet the criteria for panic disorder or for nonfearful panic disorder diagnoses.


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TABLE 1. Diagnostic Criteria for Nonfearful Panic Disordera



Measures
Structured Diagnostic Interview. Psychiatric disorders were assessed by using the SCID.15 The SCID is a semistructured clinical interview that yields current and lifetime psychiatric state disorders (axis I disorders). A trained interviewer and psychiatrist (T.D.) administered the SCID before the cardiological investigation. All DSM-IV16 axis I diagnoses were recorded. The symptom of chest pain was excluded when scoring the criteria for somatoform disorders. The psychiatric diagnoses were recorded as current (diagnostic criteria met within 1 month before the interview). All interviews were audiotaped for assessment of interrater reliability. The interrater reliability scores were high for all psychiatric diagnoses (kappa=0.69–1.0), including panic disorder (kappa=0.88).4

Self-report measures. The following questionnaires were used: 1) questionnaire on demographic characteristics, including sex, age, years of education, and income; 2) SCL-90-R;17 3) Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory;18 4) Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire;19 5) Body Sensations Questionnaire;19 6) Mobility Inventory for Agoraphobia;20 7) the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale21 (total score was measured and prevalence of alexithymia was assessed by considering individuals scoring >=61 as alexithymic and those scoring <=51 as nonalexithymic); and 8) Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey.22

Cardiac assessment and registration of somatic disorders. During the cardiological evaluation, the cardiologist completed a form providing data on the patient's chest pain, previous and current medical diseases, current medication, and risk factors for coronary artery disease. All patients underwent a bicycle ergometer test, performed according to the procedure decribed by Nordenfelt et al.23 The classification criteria and procedure for this test are reported elsewhere.4

Statistical Analyses
Comparisons between the patients with panic disorder, nonfearful panic disorder, and no panic disorder were performed by using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test for dichotomous variables. Differences between the three groups were analyzed by using one-way analyses of variance. Scheffé's test was applied post hoc comparisons. A significance level of 5% was applied. The statistical package SPSS/PC 10.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago) was used for all data analyses.


  RESULTS

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
Prevalence of Panic Disorder and Nonfearful Panic Disorder
Seventy-six patients met the criteria for panic disorder (38.2%). Of these, 17 patients (22.4%) met the criteria for nonfearful panic disorder. Hence, the three study groups consisted of 59 patients with panic disorder, 17 patients with nonfearful panic disorder, and 123 patients with no panic disorder.

Comparisons of Patient Groups
Demographic data. No statistically significant difference in gender was found among the three groups; women constituted 58%, 65%, and 43% of the patients with panic disorder, nonfearful panic disorder, and no panic disorder, respectively. The patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder did not differ significantly in age, years of education, and income (Table 2). Compared to patients without panic disorder, those with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder were younger and had fewer years of education and lower incomes, but the difference between the patients with nonfearful panic disorder and those without panic disorder did not reach statistical significance.


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TABLE 2. Demographic Characteristics of Patients Referred to Outpatient Cardiac Investigation for Chest Pain Who Met the Criteria for Panic Disorder or Nonfearful Panic Disorder or Who Had No Panic Disorder



Anxiety, agoraphobia, and somatization. Table 3 shows patients' scores on self-report measures of anxiety, agoraphobia, and somatization symptoms.


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TABLE 3. Self-Reported Symptoms of Anxiety/Panic, Somatization, and Alexithymia of Patients Referred to Outpatient Cardiac Investigation for Chest Pain Who Met the Criteria for Panic Disorder or Nonfearful Panic Disorder or Who Had No Panic Disorder



On the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory, Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire, Body Sensations Questionnaire, Mobility Inventory for Agoraphobia scales, and the SCL-90-R anxiety subscale, the patients with panic disorder had significantly higher scores than the patients with nonfearful panic disorder and those without panic disorder. There was no significant difference between the scores of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder and those without panic disorder.

Somatization. No significant difference in scores on the SCL-90-R somatization subscale was found between the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder. The patients with panic disorder had significantly higher scores than the patients without panic disorder, and the scores of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder were between those of the two other groups.

Comorbid axis I disorders. As Table 4 shows, the patients with panic disorder were more likely to have agoraphobia than were the patients with nonfearful panic disorder. Otherwise there were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders between the two groups. However, as many as 70% of the patients with panic disorder had one or more comorbid axis I disorders, compared with 41% of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder and 42% of those without panic disorder.


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TABLE 4. Comorbid DSM-IV Axis I Disorders of Patients Referred to Outpatient Cardiac Investigation for Chest Pain Who Met the Criteria for Panic Disorder or Nonfearful Panic Disorder or Who Had No Panic Disorder



Somatic disorders. As Table 5 shows, there was no significant difference in prevalence of coronary artery disease or reports of somatic disorders between the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder. Compared with the patients without panic disorder, the patients with panic disorder were more likely to report fibromyalgia and migraine and patients with nonfearful panic disorder were more likely to report asthma and fibromyalgia. Furthermore, as many as 76% of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder had one or more comorbid somatic disorders, compared to 57% of the patients with panic disorder and 50% of those without panic disorder.


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TABLE 5. Comorbid Somatic Disorders of Patients Referred to Outpatient Cardiac Investigation for Chest Pain Who Met the Criteria for Panic Disorder or Nonfearful Panic Disorder or Who Had No Panic Disorder



Alexithymia. No significant differences were found among the three groups in total Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores (Table 3) or frequency of alexithymia (20.7% in patients with panic disorder, 11.8% in patients with nonfearful panic disorder, and 16.1% in patients with no panic disorder).

Health-related quality of life. As Table 6 shows, the quality-of-life subscale scores of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder were not significantly different from those of the patients with panic disorder. The patients with panic disorder had significantly lower scores than the patients without panic disorder (a higher score indicates a better health state) on six of eight subscales. The nonfearful panic disorder group scored lower than the group without panic disorder, but the difference reached statistical significance for only the bodily pain subscale. The presence of coronary artery disease did not influence patients' scores on the Short-Form Health Survey.


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TABLE 6. Scores on Subscales of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey of Patients Referred to Outpatient Cardiac Investigation for Chest Pain Who Met the Criteria for Panic Disorder or Nonfearful Panic Disorder or Who Had No Panic Disordera




  DISCUSSION

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
In the current study, the prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder was 22% among patients with panic disorder. This finding confirms our hypothesis that a subgroup of patients with panic disorder would have panic attacks without experiencing fear. The prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder was, however, somewhat lower than that reported in previous studies conducted in other cardiac settings (32%–44%).6,9,10 The lower prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder among the patients in our study may be explained by differences in the patient groups. Our study was conducted in an unselected group of new chest pain patients who had not yet been through the cardiological investigation. Thus, these patients did not yet know whether their pain was caused by heart disease. In contrast, previous studies have been conducted with groups of patients whose chest pain had already been evaluated as nonanginal or for whom coronary disease had been ruled out by angiography before the psychiatric assessment.6 According to our clinical experience, some patients with panic disorder experience less anxiety when coronary artery disease has been ruled out, yet their panic-like attacks still persist. We propose that the patients in our study were more likely to experience fear because they had not been through a cardiological investigation and thus did not know the cause of their pain, making the nonfearful panic disorder diagnosis less likely.

No significant differences in demographic characteristics were found between the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder. On self-report questionnaires regarding psychiatric distress, anxiety, and agoraphobia, the patients with nonfearful panic disorder had significantly lower scores than the patients with panic disorder. These findings are in line with those of previous studies.6,10

Regarding psychiatric comorbidity, we found a lower frequency of agoraphobia among the patients with nonfearful panic disorder than among those with panic disorder, similar to the findings of Fleet et al.10 and Wilson et al.24 However, we did not find significantly lower frequencies of specific (simple) phobia and generalized anxiety disorder among patients with nonfearful panic disorder, which have been found in other studies.6,10 This difference may be due to a low prevalence of these disorders among both the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder in our study. Forty-one percent of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder suffered from one or more comorbid psychiatric disorders, compared to 70% of the patients with panic disorder. This difference was not statistically significant, but it may be clinically important. Overall, our findings with regard to demographic data, psychiatric comorbidity, and self-report of anxiety symptoms are in line with those of previous studies and add to the evidence that nonfearful panic disorder may be considered a variant of panic disorder.

Extending previous research, we assessed somatoform disorder by using a structured clinical interview. Twenty-four percent of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder met the criteria for somatoform pain disorder, compared to 31% of the patients with panic disorder. This finding suggests that nonfearful panic disorder may not be more correctly classified as a somatoform disorder. We further raised the question of whether the symptoms of nonfearful panic disorder could be explained by the presence of somatic disorder. The patients with nonfearful panic disorder in the present study reported a rather high frequency of somatic disorders, compared to the two other groups. Seventy-six percent of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder had one or more somatic disorders, compared to 57% of the patients with panic disorder and 50% of those without panic disorder. However, the prevalence of somatic disorders covered a range of diseases. Thus, it seems unlikely that the presence of somatic disorders would fully explain the nonfearful panic disorder symptoms. Nevertheless, coexistence of somatic disorders appears to be an important feature in nonfearful panic disorder.

One of our hypotheses was that patients with nonfearful panic disorder present alexithymic features that may explain this variant of panic disorder. However, we found no differences among the three study groups in total Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores or in the prevalence of alexithymia. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores of the patients in our study were, however, in the same range as the scores of panic disorder patients in a study of alexithymia in DSM-IV disorders by Bankier et al.25 In their study, patients with panic disorder had lower Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores than patients with OCD, depression, and somatoform disorder. Our results suggest that nonfearful panic disorder may not be considered alexithymic panic, as assessed by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. What we do not know from this study is the degree to which the patients with nonfearful panic disorder experience emotions other than fear in the context of panic attacks. The typical features of panic attacks in nonfearful panic disorder (i.e., sudden onset and a marked autonomic activation) are also shared by other emotional states, such as anger or excitement.26 In future studies, it would be useful to examine the relationship between the panic attacks experienced by patients with nonfearful panic disorder and emotions other than fear/anxiety (e.g., anger) that may cause distress.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to report findings for health-related quality of life in patients with nonfearful panic disorder. Compared to the patients without panic disorder, both the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder reported that their quality of life, as assessed by the Short-Form Health Survey, was deteriorated. The mean quality-of-life subscale scores of the patients with nonfearful panic disorder were between those of the two other groups and were not significantly different from those of the other group except for the bodily pain subscale score, which was significantly lower (a worse health state) in the patients with nonfearful panic disorder than in the patients without panic disorder. The groups' scores on most Short-Form Health Survey subscales were in the same range as the scores of patients with panic disorder referred to psychiatric treatment in a study by Candilis et al.14 However, the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder in the present study tended to report somatic rather than mental symptoms. In other words, the patients with panic disorder in our study scored higher on the mental health subscales (mean=66.9, SD=11.5), compared to the patients with panic disorder in the study by Candilis et al. (mean=45.7, SD=19.7), and they scored lower on the bodily pain subscale (mean=44.5, SD=22.6) than the patients in the study by Candilis et al. (mean=60.8, SD=24.5). These differences suggest that patients in the cardiac setting tend to interpret their symptoms as somatic rather than mental but that such patients may be as likely as psychiatric patients with panic disorder to experience role limitation due to impairment of physical functioning, general health perception, vitality, and social functioning. The tendency to report somatic symptoms may explain why patients with panic disorder are difficult to identify in medical settings. Despite this difficulty, it is important to identify these patients, so that they may receive treatment that may reduce their disability.

The mechanisms underlying the panic attacks in nonfearful panic disorder are unknown. More research is needed to elucidate biological markers and to explore whether the biological characteristics found in panic disorder are also evident in nonfearful panic disorder. In the neurobiological theory of panic disorder, a dysfunction of the fear network in the brain is thought to play a central role.27,28 Furthermore, cognitive models of panic disorder suggest that the bodily signals of physical arousal are misinterpreted in a catastrophic manner, initiating a panic attack and generating a vicious circle of autonomic responses.29 While the catastrophic cognitions are the target of cognitive therapy, which is well documented as an effective treatment for panic disorder and noncardiac chest pain,30 our results may call into question whether cognitive treatment would be effective in patients with nonfearful panic disorder, since their scores for anxiety cognitions were low. Our clinical experience and the findings of Russell et al.31 suggest that patients with nonfearful panic disorder may respond to antipanic medication.

This study had some limitations that must be considered in interpreting the findings. The DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder stipulate that an organic cause to the symptoms must be ruled out, and ruling out organic causes may be complicated in a medical setting such as ours, where 62% of the patients had one or more somatic disorders. Symptoms with an organic cause may overlap with the symptom criteria for panic disorder. To limit such false positive results, we excluded all patients with a diagnosis of both panic disorder and a somatic disorder (coronary artery disease plus self-reported disorders), thus leaving 149 patients, with an estimated prevalence of panic disorder (including nonfearful panic disorder) of 18%. This prevalence is still high, suggesting that the somatic disorders do not explain panic disorder but rather are comorbid with panic disorder.

Another limitation of the study is that the somatic diagnoses were reported by the patients to the cardiologist and were not verified by an objective investigation, increasing the possibility for both under- and overestimation of prevalence. Consequently, the reported diagnoses might be expressions of the patients' symptoms and interpretations of such symptoms, rather than distinct disorders. On the other hand, the experienced cardiologist who performed the medical assessment approved the diagnoses. With regard to the coronary artery disease diagnoses at the time of investigation, the standard diagnostic procedure was a bicycle ergometer test; only one patient was further assessed with coronary angiography, and 21.6% of the patients were further assessed with stress scintigraphy. Thus, some patients with undetected coronary disease may have had a false negative bicycle ergometer test.

As we exclusively studied a subset of chest pain patients—i.e., those referred to a cardiological outpatient clinic with no known heart diseases—the results may not be generalized to other chest pain populations. Furthermore, significantly more study participants had coronary artery disease, compared to nonparticipants, and the prevalence of panic disorder was greater among the patients without coronary artery disease, compared to the patients with coronary artery disease (43% versus 12%). However, no significant difference was found in the prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder between patients without and with coronary artery disease (9% versus 8%). This finding suggests that we might have underestimated the prevalence of panic disorder but probably did not underestimate the prevalence of nonfearful panic disorder in our study group.

Furthermore, the nonfearful panic disorder group comprised only 17 people, which weakens the statistical power of the study and makes it susceptible to type II error. Thus, some clinically important differences between the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder may not have been found to be statistically significant. This type of error may have occurred in the comparison of the prevalence of specific phobia in the two groups. However, most of our results showed that differences between the patients with panic disorder and those with nonfearful panic disorder were either clearly not significant (e.g., alexithymia) or clearly significant (e.g., psychiatric distress and agoraphobia).


  CONCLUSIONS

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
Our study confirms that patients with nonfearful panic disorder are commonly seen in cardiological settings. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to bear in mind that a patient may have panic disorder without reporting anxiety or fear. These patients present primarily with a variety of somatic complaints and differ from patients with panic disorder with fear by scoring lower on panic-anxiety measures and having a lower prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, their extent of impairment may be similar to that of patients with panic disorder. Therefore, it is imperative to recognize this group of patients and refer them to appropriate treatment. Further research is needed on the psychological and biological features of nonfearful panic disorder, the effects of treatment on the disorder, and the overall outcomes of patients with this disorder.


  REFERENCES

 
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 METHOD
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 

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