Differences in symptom structure between panic attack and limited symptom panic attack: A study using cluster analysis |
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Authors: | TOSHIKI SHIOIRI MD PHD TOSHIYUKI SOMEYA MD KUMIKO FUJII MD TOSHIFUMI NOGUCHI MD PHD SABURO TAKAHASHI MD PHD |
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Institution: | Department of Psychiatry, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan;Saitama Konan Hospital, Konan, Japan |
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Abstract: | Abstract We had investigated the clinical characteristics of panic disorder (PD) in a Japanese outpatient population comprised of more than 250 patients diagnosed as having PD during a 13-year study period and observed that some PD patients had both panic attacks (PA) and limited symptom panic attacks (LPA). In the criteria for PD based on the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders , third edition-revised ( DSM-III-R ), episodes involving four or more symptoms are classified as PA, while those involving fewer than four symptoms are described as LPA. Therefore, LPA is identified as part of an episode of PA, since the difference between the two episodes is only in the number of symptoms. However, some recent research suggests that there is a distinct subgroup of individuals who suffer LPA. Using cluster analysis, we investigated the differences between PA and LPA groups in terms of the structures of several panic symptoms, which included anticipatory anxiety, agoraphobia and 13 clinical symptoms based on the DSM-III-R at the time of panic attacks, in 247 patients with PD. Cluster analysis revealed clusters of three and four panic symptoms in the PA group and LPA group, respectively, and there were also differences in symptom structure between the two groups. These results suggest that there may be a subgroup of individuals who show LPA among PD patients. |
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Keywords: | agoraphobia cluster analysis limited symptom attack panic attack panic disorder |
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