Low serum concentrations of vitamin B6 and iron are related to panic attack and hyperventilation attack.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Case-control study comparing emergency department patients to healthy controls
PubMed 23603926 · doi:10.18926/AMO/49668
What was done
A case-control study compared serum concentrations of vitamins B2, B6, and B12, along with iron, between 21 patients presenting to an emergency department with panic attacks (PA) or hyperventilation attacks (HVA) and 20 volunteer controls.
What was found
Serum levels of both vitamin B6 and iron were significantly lower in the PA/HVA group compared to the control group. There were no significant differences between groups in serum levels of vitamin B2 or vitamin B12. The abstract reported no exact numerical values, effect sizes, or p-values.
Why it matters
Vitamin B6 and iron act as cofactors in serotonin synthesis from tryptophan. These findings suggest a possible nutritional or biochemical association with panic and hyperventilation attacks, warranting further mechanistic study.
Limits
The sample size is very small (n=41 total). The observational case-control design cannot determine causality, and the abstract provides no numerical data, demographic information, or adjustments for dietary intake and other potential confounders.
Cited by
- context B12 deficiency can cause panic attacks, and intramuscular B12 injection can rapidly resolve panic symptoms.