Since 1970, a relationship between cardiovascular morbi-mortality and anxiety disorders has been studied. Endothelial dysfunction is one of the possible mechanisms and has been studied in mental stress. The aim of this study is to compare the levels of two of the best known endothelial damage markers (von Willebrand Factor –vWF- and E-selectin) in patients and controls and its evolution after the treatment.

We recruited a sample of patients with recent onset panic disorder from the Panic Disorder Unit of Cantabria (University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain). Data were analyzed with the statistical package SPSS 12.0 and parametric test were used to compare the means (T test for paired and for independent samples).

We obtained measures in 54 cases and 43 age, sex and BMI matched controls. Mean age was 31.3 and 63% were women. Median duration of panic disorder was 7 months. Mean values of the markers were higher in patients than controls (vWF= 78.7 vs. 75.5; p=0.4, and E-selectin= 64.7 vs. 57.8; p=0.3) but did not reach statistical significance. When we analyzed evolution of markers in patients we observed a decrease in both (vWF= 78.7 → 74.6; p=0,058, E-selectin= 62.1 → 57.8; p=0,1) but again without reaching statistical significance.

These results could support our hypothesis of a relationship between the endothelial damage and panic disorder. The lack of statistical significance could be explained because of our small sample; therefore larger samples are needed to confirm our results.