Abstract
Introduction: Anxiety sensitivity refers to fears of anxiety-related sensations, and it is a dispositional variable especially elevated in patients with Panic Disorder (PD). The objective of this study is to investigate the White Matter (WM) correlates of anxiety sensitivity in PD.
Methods: 112 right-handed patients with PD and 48 Healthy Control (HC) subjects were enrolled in this study. All patients were examined by means of magnetic resonance image at 3 Tesla. The Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory-Revised (ASI-R) and the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire (APPQ) were administered. Tract-based spatial statistics were used for image analysis.
Results: Among the patients with PD, the fractional anisotropy values of the genu of corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, sagittal striatum (including inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus), posterior corona radiata, and parieto-temporal WM regions showed significant positive correlations with scores of ASI-R. These WM regions were also significantly correlated with APPQ scores in the panic patients. Conducting correlation analysis among HC subjects showed no significant results.
Conclusion: The current study suggests that the neural correlates of anxiety sensitivity in PD may be associated with parieto-temporo-limbic WM regions in patients with PD, and it could be used as a neural correlate of PD.
Key Words: Panic disorder, Anxiety sensitivity, Neural correlates, White matter connectivity, Neuroimaging