Table 1. Criteria for inclusion and exclusion in the AGENDA trial.

Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Healthy individual of both sexes*	Somatic illness or other handicap, which made participation in the trial impossible
Offspring or sibling of an ethnic Dane, with a history of psychiatric in- or outpatient care with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and who later had the diagnosis verified in a SCAN interview at the Department of Psychiatry Rigshospitalet, Denmark 2004–2009	Daily intake of drugs interfering with corticosteroids or escitalopram, including birth control pills or any kind of corticosteroids
Aged 18–60 years. Women were **preferably in lutheal phase menstrual cycle or post-menopausal at the time of randomization	Hypersensitivity to escitalopram, dexamethasone, or human corticotropin-releasing hormone
Born in Denmark	Former medical or psychological treatment for diseases in the affective or schizophrenic spectrum
European parents and grandparents	Current abuse of alcohol or psychotropic medication
Able and willing to sign informed consent	Pregnancy or breastfeeding

*A total of 6 participants with stable treated medical conditions were included: hypertensio arterialis (3), pancreatitis antea (1), hypothyroidism (1) and acne vulgaris (1).

**Women were in lutheal phase or postmenopausal at the times of assessments.