Effects of chronic medical illness and dementia on the dexamethasone suppression test.
The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was performed on 26 elderly male outpatients in a geriatric medical clinic. Patients with depression were excluded. All patients had two or more medical diagnoses. Fourteen patients also met DSM-III criteria for dementia. No patient had an abnormal DST result. The authors suggest that neither chronic medical illness nor dementia causes false-positive DST results in this patient population in an outpatient setting, and discuss the findings in relation to previous reports.
D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000150:complications*; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003907:Dexamethasone; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
D003907:Dexamethasone; D006854:Hydrocortisone