Comparison of 35% carbon dioxide reactivity between panic disorder and eating disorder

Perna, Giampaolo; Casolari, Alessia; Bussi, Riccardo; Cucchi, Michele; Arancio, Cinzia; Bellodi, Laura

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2003.12.017

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Volume 125, Issue 3 , Pages 277-283, 15 March 2004

Comparison of 35% carbon dioxide reactivity between panic disorder and eating disorder

Department of Neuropsychiatric Sciences, Istituto Scientifico H. San Raffaele, Vita-Salute University, 20 via Stamira d'Ancona, 20127 Milan, Italy

Received 16 July 2002; received in revised form 4 September 2003; accepted 22 December 2003.

Abstract

Patients with panic disorder (PD) are hyperreactive to carbon dioxide (CO₂), but the specificity of this characteristic to PD is controversial. Anxiety and phobic symptomatology are common to both panic and eating disorders (ED). To investigate the specificity of CO₂ hyperreactivity to PD, the responses to inhalation of a 35% CO₂ and 65% oxygen (O₂) gas mixture were assessed. Reactions to 35% CO₂ challenge were compared among three groups of age- and sex-matched subjects: 14 patients with ED, 14 patients with PD, and 14 healthy controls (HC). A double-blind, randomized, crossover design was used. Only patients with PD showed a strong reaction to 35% CO₂, while patients with ED and HC did not react significantly. The results support the specificity of CO₂ hyperreactivity to PD.

Keywords: Anxiety, Provocation, Anorexia, Bulimia, CO₂