I think panic attacks can trigger life long hypochondria, especially really traumatic ones.
I also think for a lot of folks (myself included) it's anxiety over healthcare. I get freaked out that something is wrong, but I get more freaked out that the healthcare system won't be able to fix it in time/appropriately/cost effectively way. In the US, a lot of folks have WebMD syndrome because it's cheaper than going to their doctor.
I had untreated sleep apnea for years, which presented in two ways: snoring, and something that looked an awful lot like panic attacks. Every doctor I saw kept insisting that everything was fine, everything was healthy, every test came back clean, brain MRIs and epilepsy screening, chest x-rays, and more cardiologist exams than I care to remember. Sleep apnea is super common, but no one thought to look for it because I was thin. At one point, some idiot doctor threw the phrase "Could be MS.." at me. That lingered in the back of my mind for years.
I've worked in hospitals, I know my way around the system, I'm pretty intelligent, and I usually have my shit together. But that whole experience left some scars, and I'm a lot less mentally robust against illness than I used to be.
Panic attacks are a health problem. If hypochondria arises out of panic attacks then hypochondria is a health problem as well (that the US healthcare system can also ignore).
I also think for a lot of folks (myself included) it's anxiety over healthcare. I get freaked out that something is wrong, but I get more freaked out that the healthcare system won't be able to fix it in time/appropriately/cost effectively way. In the US, a lot of folks have WebMD syndrome because it's cheaper than going to their doctor.