Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:747-751
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Dexamethasone suppression tests in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder
JA Lieberman, JM Kane, S Sarantakos, K Cole, A Howard, M Borenstein, H Novacenko and J Puig-Antich
Obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder are associated
by several lines of evidence. To explore the possible relationship between
the two disorders, the authors administered 1-mg dexamethasone suppression
tests to 18 patients with obsessive- compulsive disorder and 51 patients
with major depressive disorder. None of the obsessive-compulsive patients
were classified as nonsuppressors on the basis of a 4:00 p.m. serum
cortisol level, whereas 37% of the depressed patients were nonsuppressors.
The mean cortisol levels of the two groups differed significantly. Factors
that may influence hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function, such as age,
depressive symptoms, and severity of illness, are discussed in light of
these results.
