Dexamethasone Suppression Test as a Predictor of Response to Electroconvulsive Therapy. I. Inpatient Treatment

Thirty-eight psychiatric inpatients who fulfilled DSM-III criteria for major depressive disorder with melancholia received weekly dexamethasone suppression tests (DSTs) while undergoing a clinical course of ECT. Blind ratings of clinical improvement were obtained weekly from patients on the Beck Depression Inventory and from physicians and nurses on the Hamilton Depression Scale. The 26 patients with abnormal DSTs and the 12 patients with normal DSTs demonstrated an equivalent rate of clinical remission (75 vs. 77%) as defined by a composite rating of the nurse, physician, and patient. Other individual rater analyses also confirmed the finding that initial DST status is not predictive of response to a course of ECT.