Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of all groups, before and after rTMS treatment.
| Group |
t1 HAM-A mean (SD) |
t2 HAM-A mean (SD) |
t1 Self-rated PAS mean (SD) |
t2 Self-rated PAS mean (SD) |
t1 CAQ mean (SD) |
t2 CAQ mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controls | 3.83 (3.20)a,b | 2.74 (3.57)c,d | 0.22 (1.04)a,b | 0.13 (0.34)c,d | 0.33 (0.20)a,b | 0.33 (0.22)c,d |
| Sham | 20.3 (7.10) | 15.20 (8.81)e | 20.52 (8.10) | 15.34 (8.30)e | 1.36 (0.51) | 1.06 (0.65)f |
| Verum | 22.41 (8.97) | 18.37 (10.05)e | 20.76 (7.76) | 14.91 (6.90)f | 1.63 (0.71) | 1.20 (0.71)f |
Over the course of treatment, the degree of assessed symptoms on HAM-A, self-rated PAS, and CAQ significantly declined in the verum and sham stimulated group. However, no significant differences after rTMS-treatment between these two groups occurred. a P < 0.001 compared with sham rTMS (t1); b P < 0.001 compared with verum rTMS (t1); c P < 0.001 compared with sham rTMS (t2); d P < 0.001 compared with verum rTMS (t2); e P < 0.01 t-test for paired samples; f P < 0.001 t-test for paired samples; CAQ: cardiac anxiety questionnaire, HAM-A: Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, PAS: Panic and Agoraphobia Scale, rTMS: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, SD: standard deviation, t1: measuring time 1, and t2: measuring time 2.