The British Journal of Psychiatry 150: 459-462 (1987)
© 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The dexamethasone suppression test in depression. A World Health Organization Collaborative Study
The response to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was examined in
543 patients suffering from major depressive illness and 246 healthy
controls, from 13 research centres, representing 12 different countries, in
a World Health Organization Collaborative Study. In almost all the centres,
the post-dexamethasone plasma cortisol concentration was significantly
higher in the patients than in the controls. Although there is variation
between centres, this abnormal response to the DST was shown to be frequent
in patients from widely different geographical areas.