Suicidal behavior in patients with current or past panic disorder: five years of prospective data from the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Program.

OBJECTIVE

The authors' goals were to examine predictors of suicidal behavior and provide guidelines for assessing suicide risk in patients with panic disorder.

METHOD

Four hundred ninety-eight patients with panic disorder were followed for 5 years. Survival analysis was used to examine variables correlated with prospectively observed suicidal behavior.

RESULTS

Subjects had a 0.06 probability of suicidal behavior during follow-up. Affective disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, personality disorders, and being female were risk factors. Two subjects were suicidal in the absence of risk factors; both developed depression during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Panic disorder is not associated with suicidal behavior in the absence of other risk factors.