Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:421-423
Copyright © 1984 by American Psychiatric Association
The dexamethasone suppression test in adolescent psychiatric patients
H Ha, S Kaplan and C Foley
The authors administered a structured psychiatric interview, the Kiddie-
SADS, and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to 42 adolescent
psychiatric inpatients. Of the 26 adolescents diagnosed as depressed, nine
(36.4%) failed to suppress cortisol, and of the 16 nondepressed
adolescents, three (18.8%) also failed to suppress cortisol. There was no
significant association between the diagnosis of depression and the failure
to suppress cortisol during the DST. The use of the DST to diagnose
endogenous major depressive illness in adolescents seems to be a premature
clinical application of an important investigative finding.
