Paths to panic disorder/agoraphobia: an exploratory analysis from age 3 to 21 in an unselected birth cohort

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate childhood temperamental traits and early illness experiences in the etiology of adult panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Method: Evaluated temperamental and illness experience factors, at ages 3 through 18, as predictors of panic and agoraphobia at ages 18 or 21 in an unselected sample (N = 992). Analyses were conducted with classification trees.

Results: Experience with respiratory ill health predicted panic/agoraphobia relative to other anxiety disorders and healthy controls. Also, temperamental emotional reactivity at age 3 predicted panic/agoraphobia in males but did not predict other anxiety disorders, compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, temperament and ill health interacted with gender.

Conclusions: Results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of fear of physical symptoms and biological models of respiratory disturbance for panic/agoraphobia.