Fig. 3. Glucocorticoid sensitivity of LPS-stimulated release of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the three groups. The IC₅₀ is inversely related to glucocorticoid sensitivity; ie, higher IC₅₀ indicates lower glucocorticoid sensitivity and vice versa. Highly exhausted subjects required relatively more dexamethasone to suppress LPS-stimulated IL-6 release than nonexhausted individuals (p = .003). In other words, monocytes of highly and of moderately exhausted subjects were less sensitive to dexamethasone suppression than monocytes of nonexhausted men.