Risk factors and preventions in panic disorder

Panic disorder (PD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders, with lifetime prevalence rates in general population of 2.1%-4.7% [1, 2]. PD usually progressed chronically, resulting in economic burden and a loss of quality of life [3, 4]. Therefore, proper prevention and treatment of PD is important. In particular, there is an increasing interest in developing methods to prevent anxiety disorders, which require a clear comprehension of the risk factors for predicting the disorder [5, 6]. To date, risk factor of PD are not well determined. In studies of risk factors, PD is often studied as an anxiety disorder. Nevertheless, from many clinical and epidemiological studies, this chapter attempts to sum up all risk factors regarding the development of PD as well as its progress. As such, cross-sectional designs and longitudinal studies on risk factors of PD are reviewed. Genetic risk factors are excluded here since they are dealt with in a separate chapter.