Pathological Worry is Related to Poor Long-Term Pharmacological Treatment Response in Patients With Panic Disorder

Several predictors of unfavorable pharmacological treatment response (PTR) in panic disorder (PD) patients have been suggested, such as the duration of the illness, presence of agoraphobia, depression, being a woman, and early trauma. This study aimed to examine whether pathological worry is associated with PTR in PD patients.

This study included 335 PD patients and 418 healthy controls (HCs). The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form (ETISR-SF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), and Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory-Revised (ASI-R) were administered. We measured the PTR at 8 weeks and 6 months. Student t-test, chisquare tests, Pearson's correlation analyses, and binary logistic regression model were used.

Our results showed that the total scores of the PSWQ correlated with the ETISR-SF, BDI, and ASI-R were significantly higher in patients with PD compared with HCs. The PSWQ and BDI could predict unfavorable PTR at 6 months in PD patients.

This is the first study to demonstrate that pathological worry may contribute to poor long-term PTR in PD patients. Therefore, our research suggests that clinicians must be aware of worry to optimize PTR for PD patients.