These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: The dexamethasone suppression test in patients with mood disorders.
    Author: Rush AJ, Giles DE, Schlesser MA, Orsulak PJ, Parker CR, Weissenburger JE, Crowley GT, Khatami M, Vasavada N.
    Journal: J Clin Psychiatry; 1996 Oct; 57(10):470-84. PubMed ID: 8909334.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to (1) determine whether the endogenous/nonendogenous mood disorder dichotomy is validated by the dexamethasone suppression test (DST); (2) determine whether other subtyping schemes (unipolar/bipolar, DSM-III melancholic/nonmelancholic, Winokur's family history subtypes) relate to the DST; (3) evaluate the relative contributions of symptom severity, weight loss, and other factors to DST status; and (4) assess the relative sensitivity of various post-dexamethasone cortisol determinations in the detection of dexamethasone nonsuppression. METHOD: 487 consecutive adult inpatients (N = 131) and outpatients (N = 356) with unipolar (N = 422) or bipolar disorder (N = 65) underwent the 1.0-mg DST. Nonsuppression was defined as at least one post-dexamethasone cortisol measurement > 4.0 micrograms/dL. RESULTS: Nonsuppression occurred in 27% of all patients with major depression and 43% of all bipolar depressed phase patients. For outpatients, dexamethasone nonsuppression occurred in 35.2% of subjects with endogenous (unipolar + bipolar; N = 145) and 9.0% of those with nonendogenous (unipolar only; N = 211) depressions (single 4 p.m. post-dexamethasone cortisol). For inpatients, dexamethasone nonsuppression was found in 61.5% of subjects with endogenous (N = 104) and 18.5% of those with nonendogenous (N = 27) depressions (three post-dexamethasone cortisol determinations). For the inpatient and outpatient sample together, the DST had a sensitivity of 46.2% and a specificity of 89.9% in differentiating endogenous from nonendogenous major depressive episodes. Weight loss, gender, and symptom severity added little to the endogenous/nonendogenous dichotomy. The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) primary/secondary and Winokur and colleagues' family history subtypes for unipolar depression were not strongly validated by the DST. The 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. samples together detected 91.0% of those inpatients with abnormal three-sample DST results. The 8 a.m. sample alone detected 30% of those, the 4 p.m. sample alone detected 67%, and the 11 p.m. sample alone detected 62%. CONCLUSION: The RDC endogenous/nonendogenous dichotomy was validated by the DST.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]