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Excess Mortality in Panic Disorder: A Comparison With Primary Unipolar Depression
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Excess Mortality in Panic Disorder: A Comparison With Primary Unipolar Depression

William Coryell, Russell Noyes and John Clancy
Archives of general psychiatry, Vol.39(6), pp.701-703
06/01/1982
DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.1982.04290060051010
PMID: 7092503

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Abstract

• We located 113 former inpatients with panic disorder 35 years after index admission. According to age-and sex-specific Iowa population figures, patients with panic disorder had significant excess mortality due to death by unnatural causes. Other studies suggest that secondary depression and alcoholism may have had a role in these deaths. Men with panic disorder also exhibited excess mortality due to circulatory system disease. In an age-and sex-matched patient group with primary unipolar depression, both men and women showed excess mortality. Suicide accounted for 20.0% and 16.2% of deaths in the panic disorder and primary depression groups, respectively. We conclude that panic disorder accounted for much of the excess mortality formerly noted in the "neuroses."

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