F.S. Marra, R. Brugnoli - Vol. 5, Dicembre 1999, num.4
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Riassunto Indice
Aspetti clinici differenziali tra
i due sessi nel disturbo da attacchi di panico
Gender differences in panic disorder
Background and objective: the aim of this paper has been to assess gender differences in a large sample of patients affected by panic disorder (PD) comparing the male to female ratio in panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, and in agoraphobia without panic attacks; furthermore, we took into account the issue of substance abuse in males and females with a diagnosis of panic disorder.
Methods: we included 1007 patients (296 males [29.4%] and 711 females [70.6%]) with DSM-III, -III-R or –IV diagnosis of panic disorder from a total sample of 8,276 consecutive patients referring to the out-patient facility of the III Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" from January 1989 to January 1999, subdividing them according to gender and age of onset. Differences in frequency were tested by means of the chi-square test.
Results: male/female ratio was 1:2.3 for panic disorder, 1:3.5 for agoraphobia with panic attacks, and 1:4 for agoraphobia without panic attacks. Alcohol abuse was found in 9,4% of males and 4.3% of females (p <.001, c2 test).
Conclusions: these results appear to confirm previous reports of higher rates of panic disorder and agoraphobia among females and higher rates among males for substance abuse comorbidity with panic disorder.