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.