Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The relationship between borderline personality disorders (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) continues to be controversial. A reliable biological marker for depressed BPD patients would not only support the diagnosis but could also help in predicting treatment outcome. A large sample of psychiatric patients was screened and data on the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) were obtained for 67 patients who met the criteria for BPD by scoring 7 or greater on the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines. The DST was positive in 23.9% of the cases. Fifty cases of BPD also met the Research Diagnostic Criteria for MDD. The DST was positive in 26.0%. Of the 50 patients with MDD, 34 also met the criteria for endogenous depression. Only 17.6% of this subgroup had positive results on the DST. The low sensitivity and specificity of the DST for depression in BPD patients suggests that the DST is not a useful test in differentiating BPD patients with MDD from those without MDD. The possible reasons for the DST not being useful in this population are discussed. These findings raises further questions about the nature of the depression suffered by BPD patients.
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PMID:The dexamethasone suppression test in borderlines: is it useful? 202 80

Using receiver operating characteristic methods, the authors planned to assess the diagnostic accuracy of a measure of depression extracted from the Child Behavior Checklist in a group of 667 referred adolescents with DSM-III diagnoses. This depression scale was based on a depression factor found by Nurcombe et al. in Child Behavior Checklists from adolescent inpatients. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that Child Behavior Checklist-Nurcombe scores were able to discriminate between subjects with and without major depression with an accuracy comparable to that reported for the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.78).
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PMID:Adolescent depression and the Child Behavior Checklist. 205 78

Baseline beta-endorphin and cortisol levels and their responses to 1 mg dexamethasone were measured in 11 healthy controls and in 35 depressed patients, categorized according to the DSM-III. Dexamethasone significantly suppressed beta-endorphin levels. Depressed patients with melancholia/psychotic features exhibited significantly increased post-dexamethasone beta-endorphin levels compared with healthy controls, minor and simple major depressives; the baseline beta-endorphin levels did not differ between those study samples. Post-dexamethasone beta-endorphin and cortisol values were found to be significantly and positively correlated. Accordingly, cortisol non-suppressors showed significantly higher post-dexamethasone beta-endorphin levels. Post-dexamethasone beta-endorphin may be the most sensitive and specific reflection of the disorder in negative feedback exerted by dexamethasone in depression.
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PMID:An augmented escape of beta-endorphins to suppression by dexamethasone in severely depressed patients. 213 59

Circulating levels of cortisol and beta-endorphin were evaluated in basal condition and following dexamethasone administration in 20 healthy subjects and in 60 subjects suffering from hyperphagic obesity. Moreover, mental tests were administered to these subjects in order to evaluate the affective state. Our data showed that in obese patients B-Ep plasma levels were significantly higher than those of the control group, while cortisol plasma levels were similar in the two groups. Dexamethasone administration decreased cortisol plasma levels in normal and obese subjects, while did not modify B-Ep plasma levels in obese subjects. However, after dexamethasone administration 16.6% of the obese subjects did not show a complete decrease of cortisol level. This group of subjects obtained the highest scores for depression and hypochondria to MMPI.
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PMID:[Neuroendocrine changes and affective disorders in patients with hyperphagic obesity]. 214 22

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.
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PMID:Use of the dexamethasone suppression test with mentally retarded persons: review and recommendations. 218 Apr 40

Pre- and postdexamethasone triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and TSH levels of thirteen patients with psychogenic sexual dysfunction and thirteen controls were studied. Patients showed lowered T4 levels in comparison with the control group whereas T3 and TSH levels did not differ significantly. Dexamethasone had a suppressive effect on TSH in patients and in controls while T3 levels were suppressed in the control group only. Patients scored significantly higher on the Hamilton Depression Scale than controls. These results compared with results obtained in patients recovered from major depression might point to endocrinological as well as clinical interrelations between psychogenic sexual dysfunction and minor depression.
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PMID:Thyroid response to dexamethasone: a study on normal controls and patients with psychogenic sexual dysfunction. 228 80

It has been suggested that the presence of depression is a major determinant of abnormal dexamethasone suppression in patients with schizophrenia. It has been reported that negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia are associated with increased rates of nonsuppression. In this study of schizophrenic inpatients, the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST), depression and negative and positive symptom ratings were carried out in two phases of the acute episode, in the second week after administration to, and in the week prior to discharge from, hospital. There was no association between depression and cortisol nonsuppression or between negative and positive symptoms and cortisol nonsuppression either early or late in the acute episode. It is concluded that the DST has no clinical utility in identifying the non-melancholic depression which occurs commonly in schizophrenia.
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PMID:Depression, negative and positive symptoms, and the DST in schizophrenia. 228 37

Thirty depressed in- and outpatients received serial dexamethasone suppression tests (DSTs). Plasma dexamethasone and cortisol concentrations were drawn at 1600 on the day following a 1-mg oral dose of dexamethasone. The first DST was performed after patients were drug-free for a period of 1 week; the second, third, and fourth DSTs while patients received antidepressant medication. Dexamethasone and cortisol concentrations drawn in the drug-free period correlated significantly. The cortisol to dexamethasone ratio changed significantly with time in DST nonsuppressors, suggesting that nonsuppression is associated with an altered pharmacodynamic response of the hypothalamopituitary-adrenal axis to dexamethasone during depression. When dexamethasone concentrations from the drug-free period were compared with those drawn during antidepressant treatment, no significant differences were noted.
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PMID:A longitudinal evaluation of dexamethasone and cortisol plasma concentrations in the dexamethasone suppression test before and during treatment with antidepressant drugs. 229 11

The Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST), supposed to effectively distinguish between endogenous and nonendogenous depression, was performed in a group of 34 patients with Parkinson's disease. Abnormal DST results were observed in 50% of the patients. The patients were clinically divided into subgroups of depressed and nondepressed parkinsonians. Abnormal DST results were significantly more frequent in depressed (75%) than in nondepressed parkinsonians (27.7%).
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PMID:Dexamethasone suppression test in patients with Parkinson's disease. 229 53

In the search for a valid analysis of a number of operationalised symptoms common to depressive behaviour, a study was performed comprising 46 patients showing depressive symptoms, according to operationalised criteria and as part of which all agreed to undergo the following tests: (a) psychiatric: Present State Examination; (b) psychological: Hamilton Rating Scale, Montgomery-Asberg Rating Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Suicide Ideation Scale, Chapman Anhedonia Scale, Mood Scale, Sleep Quality Scale, Activities Scale, Social Support Scale, Questionnaire on Recently Experienced Events and the Paykel Life Events Interview; and (c) biochemical: Dexamethasone Suppression (DEX) Test. After gathering different depressive subgroups, based on operationalised symptoms, a dichotomy was made in the distributions of the (an)hedonia, suicide ideation and DEX-(non) suppression scores. This study may indicate that anhedonia, suicide ideation and DEX-nonsuppression are the opening to the identification of a subgroup of depressed patients. This symptom complex could not definitely be identified on the basis of existing DSM-III diagnostic entities, because of the known fact that this method of classification is not appropriate for our purposes in revealing pathophysiological processes. It is suggested, therefore, that these symptoms might prove to be the anchor-point from which to reach a better insight into the aetiology and pathogenesis (i.e. the final common pathway) of depression.
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PMID:Anhedonia, suicide ideation and dexamethasone nonsuppression in depressed patients. 236 12


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