Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:616-618
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Effect of fluoxetine on dexamethasone-induced growth hormone release in depression: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study
JH Thakore and TG Dinan
Department of Psychological Medicine, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, England.
OBJECTIVE: The authors' objective was to characterize the effects of
fluoxetine treatment on dexamethasone-induced growth hormone (GH) responses
in depressed patients. METHOD: Twelve patients (six women and six men) with
major depression diagnosed according to DSM-III-R underwent
dexamethasone-induced GH stimulation before and after random assignment to
4 weeks of treatment with either placebo (N = 6) or fluoxetine (N = 6).
RESULTS: All six patients treated with fluoxetine and two of the six
patients given placebo demonstrated an increase in their
dexamethasone-induced GH responses. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical recovery was
associated with an increase in GH release in response to dexamethasone.
