Table 1. Socioeconomic, mood and anxiety self-report, negative affect ratings and heart-rate variability scores in the two groups (mean±s.d., independent-samples t-test/X 2-test P-scores).
| Panic patients | Healthy controls | P-score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographic data | |||
| Age (years) | 36.5±13.8 | 32.3±12.1 | 0.341 |
| Gender | 14 female/4 male | 14 female/4 male | 0.655 |
| Years of education | 16.6±2.7 | 17.5±4.2 | 0.473 |
| Verbal IQ (NART45) | 117.8±5.1 | 118.8±3.9 | 0.526 |
| Depression and trait anxiety | |||
| HADS—anxiety | 14.6±4.1 | 2.0±1.6 | <0.001 |
| HADS—depression | 8.1±3.4 | 0.7±1.0 | <0.001 |
| Panic symptoms | |||
| BSQ | 3.4±0.7 | 1.4±0.4 | <0.001 |
| ACQ | 2.4±0.6 | 1.1±0.4 | <0.001 |
| Heart rate variability | N=15 | N=13 | |
| LF/HF Maintain | 2.8±2.2 | 1.4±1.0 | <0.047 |
| LF/HF Reappraisal | 2.0±1.6 | 1.7±1.1 | NS |
| Negative affect ratings | |||
| Maintain | 2.8±0.6 | 2.9±0.6 | NS |
| Reappraisal | 1.9±0.6 | 1.9±0.7 | NS |
| State mood pre MRI scan | |||
| Anxious | 67.7±23.5 | 4.3±6.1 | <0.001 |
| Sad | 36.6±28.9 | 7.7±15.2 | 0.001 |
| Calm | 34.7±23.5 | 85.0±11.2 | <0.001 |
| Happy | 49.3±24.4 | 75.3±12.8 | <0.001 |
| State mood post MRI scan | |||
| Anxious | 29.9±28.1 | 9.0±21.6 | 0.017 |
| Sad | 31.2±22.7 | 6.1±10.9 | <0.001 |
| Calm | 54.3±27.4 | 79.7±18.7 | 0.003 |
| Happy | 53.1±20.3 | 70.8±17.3 | 0.008 |
Abbreviations: ACQ, Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire; BSQ, Body Sensations Questionnaire; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; IQ, intelligence quotient; LF/HF, low-frequency/high-frequency heart-rate variability ratio; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; NART, National Adult Reading Test.