The British Journal of Psychiatry 150: 315-318 (1987)
© 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The dexamethasone suppression test and prediction of outcome in patients receiving ECT
CL Katona, CR Aldridge, M Roth and J Hyde
Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London.
Twenty-six in-patients satisfying DSM-III criteria for major depressive
episode were assessed using the Newcastle Diagnostic and ECT Predictor
Scales and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), prior to commencing a
course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The Newcastle ECT Predictor
Scale was successful in predicting both immediate outcome and outcome over
the 6 months following ECT; the DST was unsuccessful in predicting either
immediate or 6-month outcome.