Based on study results from the University of Iowa, blood tests for panic disorder and other mental health conditions are now being developed at UI and will become commercially available in the near future.

According to the study's lead author, Robert Philibert, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine:

"The ability to test for panic disorder is a quantum leap in psychiatry.

Panic disorder will no longer be a purely descriptive diagnosis, but, as with cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome and other conditions, a diagnosis based on genetic information.

In addition, the finding could help us better understand the pathways that initiate, promote and maintain panic disorder."

The study's findings which were based on analysis of genetic information in immature while blood cells appeared online March 6 in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B.

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