Coryell W, Smith R, Cook B, Moucharafieh S, Dunner F, House D
Psychiatry Res. 1983 Nov;10(3):165-74. doi: 10.1016/0165-1781(83)90052-5.
Thirty-two outpatients with major depression of mild to moderate severity were given a 1 mg dexamethasone test (DST) after 1 week of placebo. Those who failed to show a response to placebo began a 6-week course of desipramine treatment. Severity ratings and the DST were repeated during biweekly visits. DST results robustly validated Winokur's familial subtyping and the primary/secondary distinction only when multiple results were considered. The use of multiple DSTs doubled the sensitivity of this test to primary depression and to familal pure depressive disorder without affecting specificity. Based on these data, a single abnormal DST result is considerably more meaningful than a single normal one. This finding may have particular importance to outpatients.
32名轻度至中度重度抑郁症门诊患者在服用1周安慰剂后接受1毫克地塞米松试验（DST）。对安慰剂无反应者开始为期6周的去甲丙咪嗪治疗。在每两周一次的访视期间重复进行严重程度评级和DST。只有当考虑多个结果时，DST结果才有力地验证了维诺克的家族亚型分类和原发性/继发性区分。使用多个DST可使该试验对原发性抑郁症和家族性纯抑郁症的敏感性提高一倍，而不影响特异性。基于这些数据，单个异常的DST结果比单个正常结果更有意义。这一发现可能对门诊患者尤为重要。
