Familial coaggregation of major psychiatric disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders among first-degree relatives of individuals with panic disorder

This study aimed to assess the risk of major psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders in first degree relatives (FDRs) of individuals with panic disorder (PD), including PD, bipolar Disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Between 2001 to 2010, we included 153,091 FDRs of individuals with PD and 1:4 matched controls based on age and sex from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Poisson regression model with a robust error variance to estimate the relative. After adjusting for demographics and psychiatric disorders, FDRs of individuals with PD had a higher risk of PD (reported as adjusted relative risk with 95% confidence interval: (ARR:2.74, 95%CI: 2.56 to 2.93), BD (ARR:1.24, 95%CI: 1.15 to 1.34), MDD (ARR: 1.46, 95%CI: 1.40 to 1.53), ADHD (ARR: 1.25, 95%CI: 1.18 to 1.32), and OCD (ARR:1.54, 95%CI:1.40 to 1.69) compared to their matched controls. Our findings may aid in counselling and early awareness of major psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Future genetic and population studies are needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms and confirm our findings. First-degree relatives (FDRs) of individuals with panic disorder (PD) had a higher risk of PD (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 95% CI: 2.74, 2.56–2.93), bipolar disorder (BD; 1.24, 1.15–1.34), major depressive disorder (MDD; 1.46, 1.40–1.53), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; 1.25, 1.18–1.32), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; 1.54, 1.40–1.69), compared with their matched controls. No significant increase was observed for schizophrenia (0.95, 0.88–1.02) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD; 0.94, 0.83–1.08). These associations were consistent across different kinship levels, including parents, siblings, and offspring.