Suicide and the dexamethasone suppression test in unipolar depression.
The authors studied 243 inpatients with unipolar depression who had received DSTs. Of 205 patients with primary depression, the 4 who later committed suicide were among 96 with abnormal DST results; 1 patients with secondary depression committed suicide despite a normal DST result. The authors suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysfunction is associated with a type of primary depressive illness that is more likely to involve suicide than are other types.
D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003907:Dexamethasone; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*
D003907:Dexamethasone; D006854:Hydrocortisone