Use of the dexamethasone suppression test with mentally retarded persons: review and recommendations.

The correct methodology for performing the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST), which has been widely studied in psychiatry for its possible utility as a laboratory test of depression, was reviewed. Factors that may invalidate the test by producing false-positive or false-negative results and current recommendations regarding using the test were discussed. Studies of the use of the DST for patients with mental retardation as well as other patients displaying atypical symptoms of depression, such as children and demented elderly persons, were reviewed.