Effect of Aquatic Exercises on QT Interval in Patients with Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is among the prevalent mental disorders. By unexpected and spontaneous occurrence of panic attacks, it can be found that this disorder is accompanied by cognitive and physical symptoms, which can cause cardiovascular, respiratory, neural, and intestinal disorders, perspiration, shivering, fever, and psychological problems. Since aquatic exercises are effective in reducing cardiovascular symptoms, this study aimed to determine the effect of aquatic exercises on QT interval in patients with panic disorder.
36 women with panic disorder, mean age of 38.60 ± 6.45 years, and mean weight of 70.64 ± 11.04 kg were selected purposively after medical screening and placed randomly in two groups experimental and control (n = 18). QT intervals were measured by electrocardiography (ECG), before the intervention and 12 weeks after it. Experimental group participated in a 12-week program for aquatic exercises (three weekly sessions in 1.5-hour basis for each session, with the intensity of 50-80% of maximum heart rate). Patients in control group continued their normal life. All the variables were remeasured after 12 weeks. Paired t-test was used to compare within the groups and ANOVA test was used for the intergroup comparison.
Findings: Comparison of the means between the two groups showed that after 12 weeks of aquatic exercises, significant reductions were observed for QT interval, corrected QT interval (QTc), QRS interval, and heart rate (HR) in patients with panic disorder in experimental group compared to the controls (P Hence, aquatic exercises can be used as a method for improving cardiovascular factors in patients with panic disorder.