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The Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Psychotic versus Non-psychotic Endogenous Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Zoltán Rihmer ,
Mihály Arató ,
Erika Szádoczky ,
Katalin Révai ,
Erzsébet Demeter ,
Sandor György  and
Pal Udvarhelyi
Zoltán Rihmer*
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Mihály Arató
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Erika Szádoczky
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Katalin Révai
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Erzsébet Demeter
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Sandor György
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
Pal Udvarhelyi
Affiliation:
National Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest 27, Pf. 1. 1281 Hungary
*
∗Correspondence
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Summary

The authors investigated the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in 93 female patients with primary (endogenous) major depression; in 20 female paranoid schizophrenics, and in 17 healthy females. Depressed patients had a significantly higher rate of abnormal DST response and significantly higher post-dexamethasone serum cortisol levels than schizophrenics and normal controls. The unipolar and bipolar depressives showed a similar profile of DST abnormalities. Depressed patients with psychotic features had a significantly higher rate of positive DST results than non-psychotic patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 145 , Issue 5 , November 1984 , pp. 508 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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