The diagnostic distribution of dexamethasone non-suppressors

Baseline serum cortisols and DSTs were performed on 100 psychiatric inpatients. The rates of non-suppression in selected DSM III diagnostic categories were calculated and the results discussed in the context of recent literature. It was concluded that test specificity may have been frequently overestimated. The suggestion is made that DST non-suppression may have non-specific and relative vector qualities, and thus be of little diagnostic use.