Citation

Pfeffer CR, Stokes P, Shindledecker R. Biol. Psychiatry 1991; 29(9): 909-917.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, White Plains, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2049489

Abstract

Studies of adults have reported associations between suicidal behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis functioning, but these associations were inconsistent. Very few studies of prepubertal children evaluating these relations exist. This study of 49 prepubertal psychiatric inpatients evaluates associations between suicidal behavior and predexamethasone and postdexamethasone plasma cortisol levels shortly after hospital admission and 7 weeks later. Results suggest that associations between suicidal behavior and plasma cortisol levels are independent of diagnosis. Covariation of predexamethasone and postdexamethasone plasma cortisol levels with major depression was associated with severity of suicidal behavior. Implications of these results for childhood suicidal risk are discussed.

Language: en