Impact of dexamethasone metabolism on dex/CRH-test.

摘要

We read with interest the article by Hatzinger et al (Hatzinger et al., 2011), in which the authors conducted the dexamethasone/ corticotropin releasing hormone test (dex/CRH-test) on nineteen young and twenty-three elderly participants using three doses of dex.Both ACTH and cortisol levels decreased with increasing dex doses in young and elderly subjects, and cortisol (but not ACTH) levels differed between young and old for one of the three doses of dexamethasone. The authors stated that the "results thus imply a decrease in HPA axis sensitivity as an effect of normal aging".