A study of the dexamethasone suppression test in hospitalized depressed patients

1984 ◽  
Vol 144 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Ames ◽  
G. Burrows ◽  
B. Davies ◽  
K. Maguire ◽  
T. Norman
Keyword(s):  
Dexamethasone Suppression Test ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Suppression Test ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression

National Differences in Dexamethasone Suppression Test Results and Suicide Rates

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 878-878
Author(s):  
David Lester
Keyword(s):  
Dexamethasone Suppression Test ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Suppression Test ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression

For 10 nations suicide rates were not correlated with the percentages of depressed patients who responded abnormally to the Dexamethasone Suppression Test.

Speech Pause Time as a Method for the Evaluation of Psychomotor Retardation in Depressive Illness

1985 ◽  
Vol 146 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. A. Hoffman ◽  
J. C. Gonze ◽  
J. Mendlewicz
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Biological Markers ◽  
Sleep Latency ◽  
Depressive Illness ◽  
Psychomotor Retardation ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression Test ◽  
Pause Time ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Suppression Test ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression

SummaryPsychomotor retardation is important in some depressed patients. We found that speech pause time (SPT) during a counting test correlated with the reaction time of both depressed patients and controls. It also correlated with global psychomotor retardation measured on Widlocher's scale. We demonstrated increased SPT in unipolar depressives, and also in retarded depressives as a group when compared with controls and with non-retarded depressives. SPT varied diurnally in controls, but not in depressed subjects. It did not correlate with biological markers of depression (REM sleep latency and the dexamethasone suppression test). It did, however, shorten during clinical improvement with antidepressant chemotherapy.

Defining Melancholia: Properties of a Refined Sign-Based Measure

1994 ◽  
Vol 164 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Parker ◽  
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic ◽  
Kay Wilhelm ◽  
Ian Hickie ◽  
Henry Brodaty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Treatment Response ◽  
Biological Marker ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression Test ◽  
Melancholic Depression ◽  
Independent Measure ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Suppression Test ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression ◽  
Response Variables

We hypothesised that psychomotor disturbance is specific to the melancholic subtype of depression and capable of defining melancholia more precisely than symptom-based criteria sets. We studied 413 depressed patients, and examined the utility of a refined, operationally driven set of clinician-rated signs, principally against a set of historically accepted symptoms of endogeneity. We specified items defining psychomotor disturbance generally as well as those weighted either to agitation or to retardation. We demonstrated the system's capacity to differentiate ‘melancholic’ and ‘non-melancholic’ depression (and the comparable success of DSM–III–R and Newcastle criteria systems) by reference to several patient, illness and treatment response variables, to an independent measure of psychomotor disturbance (reaction time) and to a biological marker (the dexamethasone suppression test).

The Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Elderly, Non-Depressed Patients with Dementia

1985 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Galletly ◽  
H. Morris ◽  
A. Newcombe
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Disorder ◽  
Brain Damage ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression Test ◽  
Clinical Criteria ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Organic Brain ◽  
Suppression Test ◽  
Dexamethasone Suppression ◽  
Cerebral Disorder

Attempts have been made to use the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to distinguish patients who have a primary depressive disorder from those suffering a degenerative cerebral disorder. It has been suggested however, that organic brain damage reduces neuroendocrine sensitivity and can be associated with failure to suppress on the DST. This study investigates the DST in 21 patients, over 65 years, with dementia but no evidence of depression on a variety of clinical criteria. Seven patients had abnormal DSTs.

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