Title
The dexamethasone suppression test in normal control subjects: comparison of two assays and effect of age
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Publication Date
1984-12-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Dexamethasone; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Male; Middle Aged; Radioimmunoassay; Radioligand Assay
Disciplines
Psychiatry
Abstract
The authors used competitive protein binding assay and radioimmunoassay to measure cortisol levels in 38 normal control subjects three times before and three times after administration of 1 mg of dexamethasone. They found significant interassay differences at 11:00 p.m. before dexamethasone and at all three postdexamethasone times. Analysis of variance revealed significant overall positive relationships between age and cortisol levels measured by both techniques. Age correlated significantly with postdexamethasone cortisol levels measured by radioimmunoassay but not when measured by competitive protein binding assay. Clinicians should obtain data from their laboratories as to appropriate cutoffs for cortisol suppression on the specific assay used.
Source
Am J Psychiatry. 1984 Dec;141(12):1550-5.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The American journal of psychiatry
Related Resources
PubMed ID
6507658
Repository Citation
Rosenbaum AH, Schatzberg AF, MacLaughlin RA, Snyder K, Jiang N, Ilstrup D, Rothschild AJ, Kliman B. (1984). The dexamethasone suppression test in normal control subjects: comparison of two assays and effect of age. Psychiatry Publications and Presentations. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_pp/14