Mortality of anxiety syndromes in a normal population. The Lundby Study

The mortality of anxiety syndromes between 1972 and 1992 was investigated in a prospective study of a normal population, the 1947 Lundby cohort. 121 persons with anxiety according to the Lundby definition (Anx), and 74 persons with panic disorder with/without agoraphobia (PD-Ag) according to the DSM-III-R, all of them developing their first episode between 1947 and 1972, were analyzed with regard to general mortality and special cause of death. Sex- and age-specific mortality rates for these groups were calculated and compared with the corresponding rates of the cohort's 1,877 remaining subjects without first episodes of Anx/PD-Ag. In contrast to the females, the annual rates of general mortality in males with Anx/PD-Ag were 1.9/2.2 times higher in the age group 65-84 years, compared with the rates of the non-Anx/PD-Ag groups. They also had an increase in death due to circulatory disorders, most pronounced in males with PD-Ag before the age of 65. There were no suicides in any of the Anx/PD-Ag groups during the observation period.