The dexamethasone suppression test in adolescent psychiatric patients.

The authors administered a structured psychiatric interview, the Kiddie-SADS, and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to 42 adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Of the 26 adolescents diagnosed as depressed, nine (36.4%) failed to suppress cortisol, and of the 16 nondepressed adolescents, three (18.8%) also failed to suppress cortisol. There was no significant association between the diagnosis of depression and the failure to suppress cortisol during the DST. The use of the DST to diagnose endogenous major depressive illness in adolescents seems to be a premature clinical application of an important investigative finding.