Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

Objectives : The objective of this study is to investigate differences in clinical characteristics between female panic disorder (PD) patients with abortion history (PD+A) and without abortion history (PD-A).

Methods : We examined data from 341 female patients diagnosed with PD. We divided the patients with PD into PD+A (82 patients) and PD-A (259 patients) to compare demographic and clinical characteristics. The following instruments were applied : stress coping strategies, NEO-neuroticism, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised (ASI-R), the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire (APPQ), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Sheehan Disability Scale.

Results : Compared to the PD-A, the PD+A group showed no significant difference in coping strategies. However, significantly higher scores in neuroticism, the ASI-R, the APPQ and the BAI were observed. In terms of health-related disability, the PD+A group did not show significant difference.

Conclusions : Our results suggest that the PD+A group may differ from the PD-A group in trait markers such as neuroticism and anxiety sensitivity, and abortion history may be associated with panic-related symptom severity. Our study suggests that further consideration is needed on such clinical characteristics in PD patients with abortion history.

Keywords Panic disorder;Induced abortion;Anxiety sensitivity;Neuroticism.