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The Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Alzheimer's Disease and Major Depression: Relationship to Dementia Severity, Depression, and CSF Monoamines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2005

Susan E. Molchan ,
James L. Hill ,
Alan M. Mellow ,
Brian A. Lawlor ,
Rick Martinez  and
Trey Sunderland
Susan E. Molchan
Affiliation:
Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
James L. Hill
Affiliation:
Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Alan M. Mellow
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Brian A. Lawlor
Affiliation:
Division of Geropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York
Rick Martinez
Affiliation:
Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Trey Sunderland
Affiliation:
Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
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Abstract

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been reported to have a rate of nonsuppression on the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) comparable to that of patients with major depression. With symptoms of depression being increasingly recognized in patients with AD, studying their DST response may provide clues to the etiology of the abnormal response in both diagnostic groups. A correlation between dementia severity and post-dexamethasone cortisol was found within the group of male, but not female AD patients. Within the group of elderly depressives, a correlation between post-dexamethasone cortisol and ratings of depression was found. Serum dexamethasone levels were not significantly lower in the nonsuppressors as compared with suppressors in either diagnostic group.

Type
Research and Reviews
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , September 1990 , pp. 99 - 122
Copyright
© 1990 Springer Publishing Company

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