Premium
Is the dexamethasone suppression test predictive of response to specific antidepressant treatment in major depression?
Author(s) -
Steardo L.,
Barone P.,
Monteleone P.,
Iovino M.,
Cardone G.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1987.tb02874.x
Subject(s) - antidepressant , serotonergic , depression (economics) , dexamethasone suppression test , dexamethasone , medicine , psychology , psychiatry , oncology , serotonin , anxiety , receptor , economics , macroeconomics
The authors attempt to correlate the response to dexamethasone suppression test (DST) with a clinical response to antidepressant drugs in 68 patients with major depression. Antidepressants that influence noradrenergic or serotonergic transmission with relative different potencies were selected and used in standard doses for 6 weeks. The response was evaluated weekly by raters blind to DST results and to antidepressant medications prescribed. The retrospective analysis failed to correlate DST response with outcome of treatment. Therefore the present results suggest that this laboratory test does not help to identify subgroups of depressed patients responding preferentially to various antidepressant drugs.