ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of escitalopram treatment on cognitive bias to the emotional facial information in patients with panic disorder. Methods 30 patients met CCMD-3 criteria for panic disorder were enrolled as research group and marched sexual and age 30 healthy persons enrolled as control group. Patients were treated with escitalopram for 8 weeks. All participants measured with dot-probe task of emotional facial information at base and after 8 weeks. RTs and attentional bias scores were compared respectively. Results After 8 weeks,HAMA scores (7. 81 ± 2. 52) in research group were lower than that of at base ( 17. 23 ± 3. 12) (P = 0.002). A repeated measure ANOVA revealed a significant probe site main effect (F(1,58) =4. 34, P = 0.031 ) , RTs of antarafacial site were longer than that of homonymy site. It revealed a significant probe site and group interaction(F(1,58) =16.15, P=0.000) ,a significant emotional facial information type and probe site interaction(F(1,58)=9.25, P =0.015) ,and a significant emotional facial information type × probe site× group interaction(F(1,58) =7. 31, P = 0. 002). LSD test showed that RTs of antarafacial site to fear facial information in research group were longer than that of homonymy site(P = 0.0009). RTs and attention bias scores of antarafacial site to fear facial information after 8 weeks in research group were lower than that of at base(P=0.032,0.008). Conclusion Patients with panic disorder have the cognitive bias to the fear facial emotional stimulus, and escitalopram treatment might improve the cognitive bias.