The distributions of the primary outcome measure and other characteristics of plasma cortisol and plasma ACTH in the combined DEX-CRH test in 73 healthy first-degree relatives of patients with a history of major depressive disorder, in the escitalopram 10 mg group (N = 38) and the placebo group (N = 35).

Δ was the difference between the measurement of plasma cortisol and ACTH after and before four weeks of intervention with escitalopram 10 mg or placebo for: AUC_total = Area under the curve after administration of CRH corrected for baseline equivalent, BASAL = mean of five measurements at the baseline after pre-treatment with dexametasone 1.5 mg and before the administration of CRH, PEAK = the highest measurement following CRH administration,

Δplasma cortisol AUC_total was the primary outcome measure.

p of Mann-Whitney test comparing the two distributions which did not follow normal distributions (Shapiro Wilkes test).

*95% C.I. are reported since the distributions followed normal distributions.