Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:1327-1330
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Idiopathic cardiomyopathy and panic disorder: clinical association in cardiac transplant candidates
JP Kahn, RE Drusin and DF Klein
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Patients under evaluation for cardiac transplant surgery were seen for
routine psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Of 35 patients with idiopathic
cardiomyopathy, 83% (N = 29) had definite or probable panic disorder. Of 25
patients with postinfarction cardiac failure, rheumatic heart disease, or
congenital heart disease, only 16% (N = 4) had definite or probable panic
disorder. The authors suggest that autonomic mechanisms may underlie the
association of cardiomyopathy and panic disorder and that increased cardiac
sympathetic tone or circulating catecholamines may cause myocarditis and
cardiomyopathy.
