The cardiac anxiety syndrome ? a subtype of panic attacks

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Abstract
Cardiac anxiety syndrome and the diagnosis of cardiac neurosis respectively are characterized by panic attacks. Panic attacks are the core syndrome of a validated anxiety disorder (panic disorder). The purpose of this study was to investigate if the cardiac anxiety syndrome represents a separate disorder or if it is only a subtype of panic attacks. In a sample of 122 patients with panic attacks, all patients with a cardiac anxiety syndrome were selected (n = 31). Furthermore, parallel to this group—matched in the variables age and sex—a second group of patients with no cardiac anxiety syndrome was selected. There were no significant differences in course; in clinical phenomenology, patients with a cardiac anxiety syndrome were only distinguished by a greater intensity of somatization and phobic avoidance from patients with no cardiac anxiety syndrome. These results confirm the hypothesis that the cardiac anxiety syndrome is a subtype of panic attacks and does not represent a separate disorder.

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