Therapeutic monitoring of escitalopram by dexamethasone suppression test.

Introduction: Depression is associated with a dysfunction of regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, HPA, which is reflected in the alteration of the dexamethasone suppression test, DST. Escitalopram and other SSRIs decrease the HPA axis response to the DST, beeing the aim of this study validate the DST as a surrogate marker of central serotonergic activity in the treatment with escitalopram and its application to the calculation of the dosage regimens.

Methodology: Prospective observational study on 29 patients, upon whom was performed the DST-test with 0.