gene polymorphisms are associated with respiratory symptoms in panic disorder.

BACKGROUND

Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of panic disorder (PD). However, the effect of genetic variants on PD remains controversial.

AIM

To evaluate the associations between gene polymorphisms and PD risk and assess the effect of gene polymorphisms on the severity of clinical symptoms in PD.

METHODS

We recruited 230 PD patients and 224 healthy controls in this study. All participants were assessed for anxiety and panic symptom severity using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS). gene polymorphisms (rs1978340 and rs3749034) were genotyped and assessed for allele frequencies.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between cases and controls in the genotype distributions or allele frequencies of (rs1978340 and rs3749034). In addition, the effect of (rs1978340 and rs3749034) on PD severity was not significant. However, regarding respiratory symptoms, patients with the rs1978340 A/A genotype had significantly higher scores than those with the A/G or G/G genotype.

CONCLUSION

Here, we showed that the A/A genotype of rs1978340 was associated with increased severity of respiratory symptoms in patients with PD.