Comparison of panic symptom sequences and pathophysiologic models.

In an attempt to assess which of the proposed etiologic models best accounts for the symptomatology seen in panic attacks, 21 patients with panic attacks were asked to describe the symptom sequence during an attack. Using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the Runs test, and Friedman's 2-way ANOVA, the degree of agreement between their attacks, and the proposed models was assessed. All three analyses suggest that, at the 0.1, 0.025, and 0.05 levels of significance respectively, the autonomic dysfunction model best accounts for the sequence of symptoms in panic attacks.