Co2 sensitivity in patients with panic disorder and adult seperation anxiety disorder

Aim: It is known that panic disorder (PD) patients have higher probability for panic attacks via CO2 challenge. There are studies which notify the relationship between childhood separation anxiety disoder (CSAD) and CO2 sensitivity and, adult PD. In the present study, it is aimed to comparatively assess the CO2 sensitivity and possible related clinical features in PD and/or seperation anxiety disorder (SAD) in adult patients and healthy subjects.Method: 38 PD patients, 31 adult seperation anxiety disorder (ASAD) patients and 40 healthy subjects have participated to the study. The participants were challenged two times with at least 80% vital capacity inhalations of 35% CO2 -65% O2 through a mask which covers the mouth and the nose. Immediately before and after inhalations, acute panic inventory (API) and visual analog scale (VAS) were scored by participants. The presence of the CO2 induced of panic attacks were assessed based on these scores.Results: There was no significant difference between PD and ASAD grups, whereas these two groups were both found to be significantly higher than the control group in terms of CO2 induced panic attack rates according to API and VAS scores. Similarly, while anxiety sensivity index-3 (ASI-3) total scores did not differ between PD and ASAD groups, they had both significantly higher scores than controls. Furthermore, ASI-3 physical subscale were seperated from the other two subscales by having higher scores in PD group than ASAD group.Conclusion: In our study, we not only confirm that there is a CO2 sensivity in PD, but also found a CO2 sensitivity in ASAD. Our findings support the view of a common pathophysiological processes might be responsible for the development of these two disorders.Key Words: Panic disorder, adult seperation anxiety disorder, CO2 sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity