Quality of life in panic disorder

ABSTRACT Quality of life in Panic Disorder At last years, several studies on quality of life have been made, and data showing that quality of life is negatively affected in cases being followed with panic disorder diagnosis have been obtained. In this study, it was aimed to investigate whether panic disorder affects quality of life negatively or not in comparison with a control group and cases with major depression, another disease negatively affecting quality of life. 13 men and 33 women (total 46) within an age range of 18 and 60 (mean age 35,4±10,8) diagnosed as panic disorder; 10 men and 43 women (total53) within an age range of 25-69 (mean age 42,7±10,9) diagnosed as major depression were included in this study on admission to psychiatry policlinic. In addition 10 men and 21 women (total 31) within an age range of 18-57 (mean age 34,9±10,6) without no complaint were also participated in the study as a control group. The study consisted of total 130 cases. %50 of 46 panic disorder patients were choosen as agoraphobic while the rest %50 were without agoraphobia. We tried to select the control group among the people living in similar environment and at similar sociocultural levels, when possible. If that was not achieved, similar control samples were choosen according to age, education level and gender. Psychiatric consultation was carried out using Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnose (SCID-I). Sociodemographic data form, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), Short form 36 Quality of Life Scale (SF-36), Panic and Agoraphobia Scale and Endicott's Work Productivity Scale (EWPS) were applied. As a result of the study, we found that Panic Disorder (with or without Agoraphobia) had negatively affected quality of life in comparison with healty control group. We also found that Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia had affected the quality of life worse then comparison with Panic Disorder without Agoraphobia and healthy control group. We detected more significant impairment in physical function, physical role disability and pain subgroups of quality of life scale (SF-36)in Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia group than depression group. We detected a more significant impairment in energy and mental health subgroup of SF-36 in depression. Key Words: Panic Disorder, quality of life, SF-36. vn