Subtypes of unipolar depression distinguished by the dexamethasone suppression test

Abstract

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was administered to 54 primary unipolar depressed patients and 19 non-depressed hospitalized inpatients. Abnormal DST were found in 23 depressed patients (43%) in contrast to 2 (11%) non-depressed patients ( P <0.05). With the endogenously depressed group, 69% of patients categorized as familial pure depressive disease (FPDD) in contrast to 13% of depressive spectum disease (DSD) patients had abnormal DST results ( P <0.02). The DSD group had significantly fewer abnormal DST results than all other subtypes of unipolar depression ( P <0.05). The distinction revealed between DSD patients and other endogenously depressed patients may be due to biological factors or due to the heterogeneous nature of the DSD subtype group.