Anxiety sensitivity and treatment outcome in panic disorder

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between change in anxiety sensitivity, as measured by the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), and treatment outcome in a sample of 106 subjects with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia) who were participants in an evaluation study of cognitive-behavioral treatment. Results revealed that subjects who received active treatment had significantly lower anxiety sensitivity scores at post-treatment than the wait-list control group. We also examined change in anxiety sensitivity from pre- to post-treatment in reference to Clinical Global Improvement (CGI) ratings and with the effect size statistic. Subjects who showed improvement based on CGI ratings also demonstrated a reduction in anxiety sensitivity. Furthermore, the effect sizes obtained with the ASI were greater in magnitude than those obtained with other widely used anxiety self-report measures. Taken together, the finds supported the use of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index as a treatment outcome measure in panic disorder research.