Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:265-267
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Dexamethasone for the treatment of depression: a randomized, placebo- controlled, double-blind trial
GW Arana, AB Santos, MT Laraia, S McLeod-Bryant, MD Beale, LJ Rames, JM Roberts, JK Dias and M Molloy
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425-0742.
OBJECTIVE: The authors' goal was to assess dexamethasone for the treatment
of depression. METHOD: Thirty-seven outpatients (11 men and 26 women)
meeting DSM-III-R criteria for major depressive disorder were randomly
assigned to receive either placebo or 4 mg/day of oral dexamethasone for 4
days. Baseline Hamilton depression scale scores were compared with scores
obtained 14 days after the first dose of study medication. Data were
analyzed by using two-sample t tests, chi- square methods, and Fisher's
exact test. RESULTS: Seven (37%) of the 19 patients given dexamethasone but
only one (6%) of the 18 patients given placebo responded positively. No
adverse events or side effects were reported, and all patients who entered
the study completed it. CONCLUSIONS: A brief course of oral dexamethasone
(4 days) was significantly more effective than placebo within 14 days for
the treatment of depression in a randomized, double-blind study of
depressed outpatients.
