J Korean Med Sci.  2016 May;31(5):757-763. 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.5.757.

Serotonin Transporter and COMT Polymorphisms as Independent Predictors of Health-related Quality of Life in Patients with Panic Disorder

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Inwha Hospital, Pocheon, Korea.
  • 2Seongnam Mental Health Care Center, Seongnam, Korea.
  • 3Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Korea. sanghyuk.lee70@gmail.com
  • 4Department of Psychiatry, CHA Gumi Medical Center, CHA University, Gumi, Korea.
  • 5Department of Psychiatry, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

There is growing evidence of poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with panic disorder (PD). However, little is known about the factors affecting HRQOL in patients with PD. The authors examined whether 5-HTTLPR tri-allelic approach and Cathechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158)Met polymorphism can predict HRQOL in patients with PD controlling for sociodemographic factors and disorder-related symptom levels. The sample consisted of 179 patients with PD consecutively recruited from an outpatient clinic and age- and gender ratio-matched 110 healthy controls. The SF-36 was used to assess multiple domains of HRQOL. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the independent effect of the 5-HTTLPR and COMT Val(158)Met on the SF-36 in panic patients. Patients with PD showed lowered HRQOL in all sub-domains of the SF-36 compared to healthy controls. The 5-HTTLPR independently and additively accounted for 2.2% of variation (6.7% of inherited variance) of perceived general health and the COMT Val(158)Met independently and additively accounted for 1.5% of variation (5.0% of inherited variance) of role limitation due to emotional problems in patient group. The present study suggests that specific genetic polymorphisms are associated with certain domains of HRQOL and provides a new insight on exploring the factors that predict HRQOL in patients with PD.

Keyword

Quality of Life; Panic Disorder; 5-HTTLPR; COMT Val(158)Met

MeSH Terms

Adult
Age Factors
Alleles
Case-Control Studies
Catechol O-Methyltransferase/*genetics
Female
Genotype
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Panic Disorder/genetics/*pathology
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
*Quality of Life
Regression Analysis
Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins/*genetics
Sex Factors
Catechol O-Methyltransferase
Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins

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