PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Vincent Yi-Fong Su
AU  - Yung-Tai Chen
AU  - Wei-Chen Lin
AU  - Li-An Wu
AU  - Shi-Chuan Chang
AU  - Diahn-Warng Perng
AU  - Wei-Juin Su
AU  - Yuh-Min Chen
AU  - Tzeng-Ji Chen
AU  - Yu-Chin Lee
AU  - Kun-Ta Chou
TI  - Sleep Apnea and Risk of Panic Disorder
AID  - 10.1370/afm.1815
DP  - 2015 Jul 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 325--330
VI  - 13
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/13/4/325.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/13/4/325.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2015 Jul 01; 13
AB  - PURPOSE Epidemiological studies have identified a trend in the development of depressive and anxiety disorders following a diagnosis of sleep apnea. The relationship between sleep apnea and subsequent panic disorder, however, remains unclear.METHODS Using a nationwide database, the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, patients with sleep apnea and age-, sex-, income-, and urbanization-matched control patients who did not have sleep apnea were enrolled between 2000 and 2010. Patients with a prior diagnosis of panic disorder before enrollment were excluded. The 2 cohorts were observed until December 31, 2010. The primary endpoint was occurrence of newly diagnosed panic disorder.RESULTS A total of 8,704 sleep apnea patients and 34,792 control patients were enrolled. Of the 43,496 patients, 263 (0.60%) suffered from panic disorder during a mean follow-up period of 3.92 years, including 117 (1.34%) from the sleep apnea cohort and 146 (0.42%) from the control group. The Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a predisposition of patients with sleep apnea to develop panic disorder (log-rank test, P <.001). After multivariate adjustment, the hazard ratio for subsequent panic disorder among the sleep apnea patients was 2.17 (95% confidence interval, 1.68–2.81; P <.001).CONCLUSIONS Sleep apnea appears to confer a higher risk for future development of panic disorder.