Key result
Repeated dexamethasone suppression testing shows poor reliability, yielding ~80% fewer abnormal results upon retesting.
Why the study?
Does repeated dexamethasone suppression testing show reliable results in healthy male volunteers?
Observational (n=20)
Does repeated dexamethasone suppression testing show reliable results in healthy male volunteers?
The dexamethasone suppression test demonstrates poor test/re-test reliability in healthy volunteers, suggesting unspecified arousal may confound the results.
DST results warrant caution due to poor reliability in healthy volunteers; leaves open its diagnostic validity amid potential arousal confounders.
The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was studied in 20 healthy male volunteers, of whom 15 were reinvestigated after 5 to 6 weeks. The mean pre-dexamethasone Cortisol levels did not differ between the two occasions. Furthermore, they were not correlated. The numbers of abnormal DSTs were reduced from 35% to 7%. The poor test/re-test reliability indicates that unspecified arousal may be a confounding factor in the outcome of DST.
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Wik et al. (1994) conducted an observational in Healthy (n=20). Repeated dexamethasone suppression test vs. Initial dexamethasone suppression test was evaluated on Abnormal dexamethasone suppression test results. Repeated dexamethasone suppression testing in healthy male volunteers demonstrated poor test/re-test reliability, with the rate of abnormal results falling from 35% to 7% after 5 to 6 weeks.
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