Late-life-onset panic disorder: clinical and demographic characteristics of a patient sample.

Although panic disorder is generally believed to begin in young adulthood, 13 cases of panic disorder with an initial onset after age 60 years have recently been seen at our clinics. Other than the time of life in which the first panic attack occurred, clinical and demographic profiles of these 13 patients were similar to those that have been reported for panic disorder patients whose panic began earlier in life. These findings indicate that panic disorder can affect older adults with no previous history of panic attacks, but further research is needed to determine the clinical and theoretical significance of late-life-onset panic disorder.