Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:29:29.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Long-Term Follow-up after a Drug Trial for Panic Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Heinz Katschnig*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Austria
Michaela Amering
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Austria
Jon M. Stolk
Affiliation:
Quintiles Inc., Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Gerald L. Klerman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical Center, New York
James C. Ballenger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Andrew Briggs
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester, UK
Raimund Buller
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Germany
Giovanni Cassano
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic II, University of Pisa, Italy
Michael Garvey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Sir Martin Roth
Affiliation:
Clinical School, University of Cambridge, UK
Carol Solyom
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
*
Professor Katschnig, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

Background

This study investigates the naturalistic course of panic disorder over four years and attempts to identify predictors for outcome.

Method

423 DSM–III–R panic disorder patients who had taken part in an international multicentre drug trial were selected for follow-up; we were able to re-interview 367 (87%). For panic attacks, phobic avoidance and disabilities the same rating scales were administered as had been used for the clinical trials.

Results

While 61 % of all patients experienced at least occasional panic attacks at follow-up, few suffered from serious phobic avoidance (16.7%) or serious disabilities (work 7.9%; family 8.7%; social 13.9%). Panic attack frequency at baseline, original trial medication and continuous use of psychotropic medication during follow-up are not related to outcome, whereas longer duration of illness and more severe phobic avoidance at baseline are unfavourable.

Conclusion

The course of panic disorder is not uniform. Since long duration of illness and severe phobic avoidance at baseline are predictors for an unfavourable outcome, more rigorous efforts should be undertaken to detect and treat panic disorder at an early stage.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Died 3 April 1992.

References

Agras, S., Chapin, N. & Oliveau, D. (1972) The natural history of phobia: Course and prognosis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 315317.Google Scholar
Albus, M. & Scheibe, G. (1993) Outcome of panic disorder with or without concomitant depression: A 2-year prospective follow-up study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 18781880.Google ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Ballenger, J. C., Burrows, G. D., DuPont, R. L., et al (1988) Alprazolam in panic disorder and agoraphobia: Results from a multicenter trial. I. Efficacy in short-term treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 413421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T. (1988) Cognitive approaches to panic disorders: Theory and therapy. In Panic: Psychological Perspectives (eds Rachmann, S. & Maser, J.), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1911) Dementia praecox oder die Gruppe der Schizophrenien. Leipzig: Deuticke.Google Scholar
Breier, A., Charney, D. S. & Heninger, G. R. (1986) Agoraphobia with panic attacks: Development, diagnostic stability, and course of illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 10291036.Google Scholar
Buller, R., Maier, W. & Benkert, O. (1986) Clinical subtypes in panic disorders: Their descriptive and prospective validity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 11, 105114.Google Scholar
Clark, D. M. (1986) A cognitive approach to panic. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 461470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, D. M., Salkovskis, P. M., Hackmann, A., et al (1994) A comparison of cognitive therapy, applied relaxation and imipramine in the treatment of panic disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 759769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cross-National Collaborative Panic Study Second Phase Investigators (1992) Drug treatment of panic disorder: Comparative efficacy of alprazolam, imipramine and placebo. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 191202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, C. E. (1976) The effect of regression to the mean in epidemiologic and clinical studies. Journal of Epidemiology, 104, 493498.Google Scholar
Eaton, W. W., Kessler, R. C., Wittchen, H. U., et al (1994) Panic and panic disorder in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 413420.Google Scholar
Hand, I., Angenendt, J., Fischer, M., et al (1986) Exposure in-vivo with panic management for agoraphobia: Treatment rationale and longterm outcome. In Panic and Phobias (eds Hand, I. & Wittchen, H.-U.). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Katschnig, H. & Amering, M. (1994) The long-term course of panic disorder. In Treatment of Panic Disorder. A Consensus Development Conference (eds Wolfe, B. E. & Maser, J. D.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Katschnig, H., Stolk, J. M., Klerman, G. L., et al (1991) Discontinuation and long-term follow-up of participants in a clinical drug trial for panic disorder. In Biological Psychiatry Vol. 1 (eds Racagni, G., Brunello, N. & Fukuda, T.), pp. 657660. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.Google Scholar
Keller, M. B., Yonkers, K. A., Warshaw, M. G., et al (1994) Remission and relapse in subjects with panic disorder and panic with agoraphobia: A prospective short-interval naturalistic follow-up. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 182, 290296.Google Scholar
Klerman, G. L. (1992) Drug treatment of panic disorder: Reply to comment by Marks, et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 465471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klerman, G. L., Weissman, M. M., Quellete, R., et al (1991) Panic attacks in the community: social morbidity and health care utilization. Journal of the American Medical Association, 265, 742746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kraepelin, E. (1899) Psychiatrie (6th edn). Leipzig: Barth.Google Scholar
Maier, W. & Buller, R. (1988) One-year follow-up of panic disorder. Outcome and prognostic factors. European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 238, 105109.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1981) Cure A Care of Neuroses. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. & Lader, M. (1973) Anxiety states (anxiety neurosis): a review. Journal of Nervous & Mental Diseases, 156, 318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M. & O'Sullivan, G. (1988) Drugs and psychological treatments for agoraphobia/panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders: A review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 650658.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M., Greist, J., Basoglu, M., et al (1992) Comment on the Second Phase of the Cross-National Collaborative Panic Study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 202205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mavissakalian, M. (1988) The mutually potentiating effects of imipramine and exposure to agoraphobia. In Panic and Phobias 2 (eds Hand, I. & Wittchen, H.-U.). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Nagy, L. M., Krystal, J. H., Woods, S. W., et al (1989) Clinical and medication outcome after short-term alprazolam and behavioral group treatment in panic disorder. 2.5 year naturalistic follow-up study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 993999.Google Scholar
Nelson, R. O. (1977) Methodological issues in assessment via self-monitoring. In Behavioral Assessment: New Directions in Clinical Psychology (eds Cone, J. D. & Hawkins, R. P.). New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Noyes, R., Garvey, M. J. & Cook, B. L. (1989) Follow-up study of patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia with panic attacks treated with tricyclic antidepressants. Journal of Affective Disorders, 16, 249257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noyes, R., Reich, J., Christianse, J., et al (1990) Outcome of panic disorder: Relationship to diagnostic subtypes and comborbidity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 809818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollack, M. H., Otto, M. W., Tesar, G. E., et al (1993) Long-term outcome after acute treatment with alprazolam or clonazepam for panic disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 13, 257263.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M., Oppenheim, B. & Mitchell, S. (1971) Childhood Behaviour and Mental Health. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. & Williams, J. B. W. (1983) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III (SCID). New York: NY State Biometrics Research Department.Google Scholar
Telch, M. J., Agras, W. S. & Taylor, C. B. (1985) Combined pharmacological and behavioral treatment for agoraphobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 325335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wittchen, H.-U. (1988) Natural course and spontaneous remission of untreated anxiety disorders: Results of the Munich follow-up study (MFS). In Panic A Phobias 2. Treatments and Variables Affecting Course & Outcome (eds Hand, I. & Wittchen, H.-U.). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.