Anxiety and mood disorder in young males with mitral valve prolapse

For-Wey Lung^1–4, Chih-Tao Cheng⁵, Wei-To Chang⁶, Bih-Ching Shu⁷

¹Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; ²Graduate Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Taiwan; ³Department of Psychiatry, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; ⁴Calo Psychiatric Center, Pingtung County, Taiwan; ⁵School of public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA; ⁶Liu Chia-Hsiu Hospital, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan; ⁷Institute of Allied Health Sciences and Department of Nursing, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Objective: This study explored the prevalence of panic disorder and other psychiatric disorders in young Han Chinese males with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). With the factors of age, sex, and ethnicity controlled, the specific role of MVP in panic disorder was analyzed.

Methods: Subjects with chest pain aged between 18 and 25 years were assessed with the echocardiograph for MVP and the Chinese version of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for panic disorder (n = 39).

Results: Of the 39 participants, 35.9% met the diagnosis of anxiety disorder, 46.2% met at least one criterion of anxiety disorder, and 23.1% met the diagnostic criteria of major depressive disorder. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of panic disorder between one of the (8.3%) MVP patients, and two (7.4%) control participants.

Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorder, including anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, in those who report pain symptoms, so that diagnosis and treatment of these patients is of great importance. In addition, individuals with MVP did not have an increased risk for panic disorder. Whether MVP may be a modifier or mediating factor for panic disorder needs to be further assessed in a larger scale study.

Keywords: mitral valve prolapse, panic disorder, Han Chinese males, major depressive disorder, echocardiograph, MINI