Sarai M, Taniguchi N, Kagomoto T, Kameda H, Uema T, Hishikawa Y
Folia Psychiatr Neurol Jpn. 1982;36(2):109-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1982.tb00261.x.
The authors studied the validity of a low dose (0.5 mg) dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in identifying depression. Nine patients who met the criteria of major depressive episode (MDE) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, another nine psychiatric patients and one normal subject underwent the DST. At least one of the two blood samples obtained either at 8 a.m. or at 2 p.m. from each of the nine patients with MDE showed a cortisol concentration of over 5.0 micrograms/dl, while the cortisol concentration in the other 10 subjects was uniformly suppressed under this level. All the patients with MDE could be identified by nonsuppression of the cortisol secretion at 8 a.m. or at 2 p.m. An "early escape" phenomenon in depressed patients reported by Carroll et al. (1976) was absent in a 0.5 mg DST, and the blood samples at 8 p.m. were less useful for identifying the depressive patient. The reason why the one point sampling method used by previous investigators was insufficient to identify the depressed patient was discussed.
作者研究了低剂量（0.5毫克）地塞米松抑制试验（DST）在识别抑郁症方面的有效性。9名符合《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》中重度抑郁发作（MDE）标准的患者、另外9名精神科患者和1名正常受试者接受了DST。从9名MDE患者中的每一位身上，于上午8点或下午2点采集的两份血样中，至少有一份显示皮质醇浓度超过5.0微克/分升，而其他10名受试者的皮质醇浓度在此水平以下均被一致抑制。所有MDE患者均可通过上午8点或下午2点时皮质醇分泌未被抑制来识别。Carroll等人（1976年）报道的抑郁症患者中的“早期逃逸”现象在0.5毫克DST中未出现，且晚上8点的血样对识别抑郁症患者用处较小。文中讨论了先前研究者使用的单点采样方法不足以识别抑郁症患者的原因。
