Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T14:57:13.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Depression and other Psychiatric Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Coppen ,
M. Abou-Saleh ,
P. Milln ,
M. Metcalfe ,
J. Harwood  and
J. Bailey
A. Coppen
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. Abou-Saleh
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
P. Milln
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. Metcalfe
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
J. Harwood
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
J. Bailey
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The prevalence of an abnormal response to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was examined in 119 in-patients suffering from a major depressive disorder and in 79 normal controls. Only 11 per cent of controls showed an abnormal DST as against 70 per cent of depressed patients. The specificity of the DST was examined by testing patients with other psychiatric disorders. Abnormal responses were found in one-fifth of a sample of schizophrenics, over one-quarter of abstinent alcoholics, two-fifths of neurotics (including neurotic depressives) and almost half of senile dements. Abnormal DST was also found in 33 per cent of patients receiving prophylactic lithium for recurrent affective disorders.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 5 , May 1983 , pp. 498 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaugh, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–71.Google Scholar
Butler, P. W. P. & Besser, G. M. (1968) Pituitary-adrenal function in severe depressive illness. Lancet, 2, 1234–6.Google Scholar
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Martin, F. I. R. & Davies, B. M. (1968) Resistance to suppression by dexamethasone of plasma 11-OCHS levels in severe depressive illness. British Medical Journal, 3, 285–7.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Feinberg, M., Greden, J. F. et al (1981) A specific laboratory test for the diagnosis of melancholia. Standardisation, validation and clinical utility. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 15–22.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J. (1982) The dexamethasone suppression test for melancholia. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 292–304.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. (1980) Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease? British Medical Journal, 280, 66–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibbons, J. L. & Fahy, T. J. (1966) Effect of dexamethasone on plasma cortico-steroids in depressive illness. Neuroendocrinology, 1, 358–63.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Clinical and Social Psychology, 6, 278–96.Google Scholar
Hare, M. (1978) Clinical check list for diagnosis of dementia. British Medical Journal, 2, 266–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honingfeld, G., Gillis, R. D. & Klett, C. J. (1966) NOSIE 30, a treatment-sensitive ward behaviour scale. Psychological Reports, 19, 180–2.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. & Brockington, I. F. (1980) The identification of disease entities and the relationship between schizophrenia and affective psychoses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 324–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milln, P., Bishop, M. & Coppen, A. (1981) Urinary free Cortisol and classification of depressive illness. Psychological Medicine, 11, 643–5.Google Scholar
Salkind, M. R. (1973) Morbid Anxiety Scale. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of London.Google Scholar
Schlesser, M. A., Winokur, G. & Sherman, B. M. (1979) Genetic subtypes of unipolar primary depressive illness distinguished by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Lancet, i, 739–41.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–82.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.