Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:318-323
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
The dexamethasone suppression test and mood following stroke
JR Lipsey, RG Robinson, GD Pearlson, K Rao and TR Price
Dexamethasone suppression tests (DSTs) were given to 65 acute and chronic
stroke patients. For patients who had had a stroke less than 1 year
earlier, nonsuppression on the DST was significantly associated with the
presence of poststroke depression. The authors, who used the DSM-III
symptom criteria for major depression, found that DST sensitivity was 67%
but specificity was only 70%. False positive tests in the stroke patients
seemed related to large lesion volume. The DST, although of limited
clinical utility in this population because of false positive tests, may
help define more homogeneous subtypes of poststroke depression for
research.
