Brief Communication Serum Lipid Concentrations in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Patients With and Without Panic Attacks

A relation between anxiety disorders and serum choles-terol level has been noted in contemporary psychiatric literature since 1989 (1). Panic disorder patients have signifi-cantly higher serum cholesterol levels, compared with age-and sex-matched normal control subjects (2,3). It can be speculated that lipoprotein lipase is induced by increased noradrenalin activity in panic disorder (2). This leads to a sug-gestion that the elevated cholesterol level is associated with increased autonomic arousal in panic disorder patients. An elevated serum cholesterol level was also found in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients. Recently, Kagan and others reported elevated lipid levels in Vietnam veterans with chronic PTSD (4). Consequently, it has been hypothesized that increased catecholamine level or increased noradrenalin activity is related to lipoprotein lipase activity in PTSD patients as well as in panic disorder patients. Recen