Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Health Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Oct 30;209(3):566-73. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2013.02.010. Epub 2013 Mar 13.
Psychometric studies indicate that anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a risk factor for anxiety disorders such as panic disorder (PD). To better understand the psychophysiological basis of AS and its relation to clinical anxiety, we examined whether high-AS individuals show similarly elevated reactivity to inhalations of carbon dioxide (CO2) as previously reported for PD and social phobia in this task. Healthy individuals with high and low AS were exposed to eight standardized inhalations of 20% CO2-enriched air, preceded and followed by inhalations of room air. Anxiety and dyspnea, in addition to autonomic and respiratory responses were measured every 15 s. Throughout the task, high AS participants showed a respiratory pattern of faster, shallower breathing and reduced inhalation of CO2 indicative of anticipatory or contextual anxiety. In addition, they showed elevated dyspnea responses to the second set of air inhalations accompanied by elevated heart rate, which could be due to sensitization or conditioning. Respiratory abnormalities seem to be common to high AS individuals and PD patients when considering previous findings with this task. Similarly, sensitization or conditioning of anxious and dyspneic symptoms might be common to high AS and clinical anxiety. Respiratory conditionability deserves greater attention in anxiety disorder research.
心理计量研究表明，焦虑敏感（AS）是焦虑障碍（如恐慌症（PD））的一个风险因素。为了更好地理解 AS 的心理生理学基础及其与临床焦虑的关系，我们在这项任务中检查了高 AS 个体是否与以前报告的 PD 和社交恐惧症一样，对二氧化碳（CO2）吸入表现出类似的升高反应性。接受了高和低 AS 的健康个体暴露于 8 次标准化的 20% CO2 富气吸入，吸入前后均吸入空气。每隔 15 秒测量一次焦虑和呼吸困难，以及自主和呼吸反应。在整个任务中，高 AS 参与者表现出更快、更浅的呼吸模式和减少 CO2 的吸入，这表明存在预期或背景焦虑。此外，他们对第二组空气吸入的呼吸困难反应升高，伴随着心率升高，这可能是由于敏感化或条件作用。考虑到以前使用此任务的研究结果，呼吸异常似乎在高 AS 个体和 PD 患者中很常见。同样，高 AS 和临床焦虑中可能存在焦虑和呼吸困难症状的敏感化或条件作用。呼吸可调节性在焦虑障碍研究中应得到更多关注。
