Lack of association between joint hyperlaxity and, I: panic disorder, and II: reactivity to carbon dioxide in healthy volunteers
✍ Scribed by Jonathan Benjamin; Itzhak Z Ben-Zion; Pinhas Dannon; Shaul Schreiber; Gal Meiri; Andre Ofek; Alex Palatnik
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2001
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 59 KB
- Volume
- 16
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6222
- DOI
- 10.1002/hup.234
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This study attempted to replicate previous reports of associations between panic disorder and joint hyperlaxity. The authors also examined possible associations between reacitivity to carbon dioxide (CO(2)), a model for panic vulnerability, and hyperlaxity in healthy volunteers. One hundred and one patients with DSM-IV panic disorder and 39 healthy volunteers were assessed for hyperlaxity by Beighton's criteria. Healthy volunteers also received two vital capacity inhalations of CO(2). Thirteen (13%) patients had five or more hyperlax joints. This rate did not differ from that in the healthy volunteers. Anxiety in healthy volunteers, as measured by the NIMH self-rating scale, DSM-IV panic symptom scores, and 100 mm visual analog scales of anxiety, increased after CO(2) from a mean of 1.8 to 2.8 (not significant); from 0.5 to 4 ( p < 0.001) and from 8.7 to 11.6 mm ( p < 0.1), respectively. There were no associations between responses to CO(2) and hyperlaxity. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.