Abstract
Age at the onset of panic disorder is considered useful for understanding the pathology of this disorder. We examined the association between age at onset and personality characteristics in 288 individuals with panic disorder (PD). The subjects were 77 men and 211 women with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PD and 112 healthy controls (43 men, 69 women). The subjects were further clinically characterized using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). We compared the NEO PI-R and the STAI scores of the 146 subjects with early-onset (<30 years) PD, the 142 subjects with late-onset (> or =30 years) PD, and the healthy controls. We found that the STAI and Neuroticism scores of the early-onset PD group were significantly higher than those of the late-onset PD and healthy control groups. These findings suggest an association between neuroticism and anxiety sensitivity and age at onset in individuals with PD.
