Suicidal behavior in patients with current or past panic disorder: five years of prospective data from the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Program.

OBJECTIVE: The authors' goals were to examine predictors of suicidal behavior and provide guidelines for assessing suicide risk in patients with panic disorder.

METHOD: Four hundred ninety-eight patients with panic disorder were followed for 5 years. Survival analysis was used to examine variables correlated with prospectively observed suicidal behavior.

RESULTS: Subjects had a 0.06 probability of suicidal behavior during follow-up. Affective disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, personality disorders, and being female were risk factors. Two subjects were suicidal in the absence of risk factors; both developed depression during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: Panic disorder is not associated with suicidal behavior in the absence of other risk factors.