Anxiety attacks with or without life-threatening situations, major depressive disorder, and suicide attempt: a nationwide community sample of Korean adults

Regardless of categorical diagnosis, many psychiatric patients suffer from sudden attack of fear or intense anxiety. In this study, we defined anxiety attacks to refer to these phenomena and investigated their association with depression and suicide attempts. A total of 12,532 adults randomly selected population through the one-person-per-household method completed a face-to-face interview using the Korean version of Composite International Diagnostic Interview (K-CIDI). A total of 5.88% reported to have experienced anxiety attacks. Among them, 46.5% reported to have experienced anxiety attacks without life-threatening situations. 'Anxiety attacks' group reported more suicidal ideation, plan, and attempts, which were even higher frequencies in 'anxiety attacks without life-threatening situations' group than 'anxiety attacks only with life-threatening situations' group and showed stronger association with lifetime suicide attempts when it had comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) (AOR = 9.69, 95%CI 5.90-15.90), compared with 'never' group. There was no association between each symptom of patients with anxiety attacks and their lifetime suicide attempt. In conclusion, the finding suggests that there are as many individuals who experience anxiety attacks without life-threatening situations as those with life-threatening situations. And anxiety attacks appear to be relevant to an increased risk of suicide attempt, especially without life-threatening situations and with comorbid MDD.