Panic Disorder in Emergency Department Chest Pain Patients: Prevalence, Comorbidity, Suicidal Ideation, and Physician Recognition

This paper was a cross-sectional survey of 441 consenting, consecutive, patients consulting the emergency department (ED), with a chief complaint of chest pain. Twenty-five percent of panic disorder patients had thought of killing themselves in the week preceding their ED visit compared with 5% of the patients without this disorder. Recent research suggest that approximately 30% of noncardiac chest pain patients have panic disorder.