| Suffering a panic attack may increase a woman's risk | | | | exhibit four of twelve specific symptoms, |
| of heart attack and stroke by as much as three | | | | accompanied by a sudden onset of fear, anxiety, or |
| hundred percent. Previous studies have linked | | | | discomfort, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical |
| depression with heart disease and other medical | | | | Manual of Mental Disorders. But further testing is often |
| conditions, according to the University of Texas | | | | required in order to determine what a patient is actually |
| Medical Branch, but a recent analysis published in the | | | | experiencing. Such sensations could be the result of a |
| Archives of General Psychiatry is one of the first to | | | | panic attack...or a potentially deadly heart attack. |
| independently link anxiety-related disorders with | | | | Could individuals, then, who have been diagnosed with |
| cardiovascular problems. | | | | anxiety disorders or panic attacks be experiencing |
| Dr. Jordan Smoller of Boston's Massachusetts General | | | | heart problems? Could heart patients be neglecting |
| Hospital, and colleagues, followed more than 3,000 | | | | anxiety issues? Could they be interdependent? Such |
| women aged fifty-one to eighty-three for five years. In | | | | scenarios are entirely possible, and the health insurance |
| that time, 330 reported having a full-blown panic attack, | | | | and health care industries must decide how to properly |
| and four percent experienced either a heart attack -- | | | | diagnose and handle these cases. So, too, must |
| otherwise known as a mild cardio-infarction (MI) -- or | | | | medical researchers now determine the extent of their |
| stroke. Only two percent of the subjects who did not | | | | relationship. What if one spurs the other? Should panic |
| suffer a panic attack still experienced one or the other | | | | attacks, then, in some cases, be considered |
| event. | | | | part-and-parcel of certain cardiovascular problems? Or |
| After controlling for variables, such as smoking, high | | | | the other way around? Major research centers, like |
| blood pressure, inactivity and depression, Smoller and | | | | those located in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, may play |
| colleagues concluded that women who reported | | | | a pivotal role in years to come in answering such |
| full-blown panic attacks were three times as likely to | | | | questions. |
| suffer a MI or stroke within five years. Smoller | | | | "One study doesn't settle [the] question. The number of |
| speculated panic attacks may trigger heart rhythm | | | | events seen in this sample is still relatively small," said |
| problems or release stress hormones that may harm | | | | Smoller. |
| the organ. Laura Kubzansky of the Harvard School of | | | | Smoller's study is not without its opponents, however. |
| Public Health, who was not involved with the study but | | | | The research, conducted between 1997 and 2000, |
| conducts comparable research, produced a similar | | | | was funded by GloxoWelcome (now GlaxoSmithKline |
| theory. Stress hormones, she said, may cause | | | | PLC), which manufacturers the anti-anxiety drug Paxil. |
| immediate damage to the heart, or wear-and-tear | | | | Some co-authors also reported financial ties with the |
| over time. | | | | company. |
| "...the body is flooded with hormones that in the short | | | | Dr. JoAnn Manson, of Harvard University's Brigham |
| run help the body cope with the emergency, but in the | | | | and Women's Hospital, contested aspects of Smoller's |
| long run take a toll," said Kubzansky. "We still don't | | | | research on other grounds. Manson believes the |
| know how best to address this or how reversible | | | | study's reliance on subjects' personal accounts of |
| these effects are." Both doctors caution that further | | | | events, rather than on doctors' analyses, may also be |
| research is necessary. | | | | a weakness. Still, she said, the study highlights what |
| Smoller's study could have serious implications for the | | | | could be a very real connection between panic |
| health care and health insurance industries. Symptoms | | | | attacks and cardiovascular issues. |
| related to panic attacks and other anxiety-related | | | | "It does tie together very well with what we know |
| disorders often mimic sensations produced by | | | | about the biology and physiology of the stress |
| cardiovascular problems -- palpitations, pounding heart, | | | | hormones," said Manson. "I think it does suggest that |
| sweating, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, nausea, | | | | this is something [women prone to panic attacks |
| tingling, chills, and hot flashes, to name a few. In order | | | | should] discuss with [their] doctor[s]. |
| to be classified as a "panic attack," an individual must | | | | |