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30 May 2006
The children of parents with panic disorder are likely to go on to develop a variety of psychiatric problems, researchers have found.
Presenting the findings at the 159th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Toronto, Canada, Joseph Biederman, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, pointed out that the development of separation anxiety in such children is a good indicator of later mental health issues.
The results of his study imply that early recognition and treatment of this condition could prevent or mitigate the onset of later psychiatric disorders.
Biederman and colleagues carried out a longitudinal study in which 95 parents with panic disorder and their 186 children, who ranged in age from 4 to 31 years, were monitored over a 5-year period and assessed for both childhood anxiety and later psychiatric conditions.
Among the children, 74 had separation anxiety, 48 had agoraphobia, and 46 had generalized anxiety disorder.
Children who presented with separation anxiety had a significantly increased risk of later developing four other conditions.
Seventeen developed agoraphobia, with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.7, compared with children without separation anxiety. Nineteen developed generalized anxiety disorder, with an OR of 2.7, while 16 developed major depressive disorder and 11 developed panic disorder, with ORs of 2.8 and 4.8, respectively.
Among the 48 children with agoraphobia, eight went on to develop panic disorder (OR=5.9), while 10 of the 47 children with generalized anxiety disorder later developed social phobia (OR=2.4).
James Scully, medical director of the American Psychiatric Association, described Biederman's findings as "fascinating".
He said that the increased risk of psychiatric problems for children with separation anxiety is a "serious problem," noting that, generally speaking, child psychiatry has collapsed all the anxiety categories.
He recommended that clinicians take a close look at the children of their parents with panic disorder.
Source: 159th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association; Toronto, Canada; 20–25 May 2006
©2006 Current Medicine Group Ltd
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