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Hyperventilation in Panic Attacks

Ambulant Monitoring of Transcutaneous Carbon Dioxide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

George Hibbert*
Affiliation:
Warneford Hospital, Oxford
David Pilsbury
Affiliation:
Warneford Hospital, Oxford
*
University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX

Abstract

Transcutaneous carbon dioxide monitoring has been used to investigate directly the frequency and role of hyperventilation during naturally occurring panic attacks in freely ambulant volunteers and patients. Illustrative preliminary data from healthy subjects and from four patients with panic attacks are presented. These confirm that some patients do hyperventilate during their attacks but indicate that some do not. The unreliability of traditional methods for identifying hyperventilators is demonstrated. These data indicate the potential of ambulant monitoring in research into hyperventilation and panic.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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