Abstract
BACKGROUND: Prolactin is a hormone of the pituitary gland whose main function is the production of milk. Hyperprolactinemia is defined as an increase in prolactin levels above 25 mu g/L in women and 20 mu g/L in men. Causes of hyperprolactinemia include pituitary tumors, espe-cially prolactinomas. Hyperprolactinemia can manifest clinically with a variety of symptoms, including galactorrhea and menstrual irregulari-ties in women and erectile dysfunction in men. There are limited data on the epidemiology of hyperprolactinemia in the Middle East region.OBJECTIVES: Description of the epidemiology and clinical features of hyperprolactinemia in a cohort from Saudi Arabia.DESIGN: Medical record reviewSETTING: Tertiary medical center in RiyadhPATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included adult patients with hyperprolactinemia in King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh. The pa-tients were treated in endocrinology clinics from 2015 to 2019. Patients of both sexes older than 14 years were enrolled in the study. Patients with insufficient follow-up were excluded. Data were collected on de-mographic characteristics, symptoms, prolactin level, cause of high prolactin level, and treatment.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The frequency of different etiologies and symptoms in patients with hyperprolactinemia.SAMPLE SIZE: 295 patientsRESULTS: The majority of patients with hyperprolactinemia were fe-male 256 (86.8%). Hyperprolactinemia was diagnosed more frequent-ly in patients in the age groups 21-30 years (42.6%) and 31-40 years (24.1%). The majority of the study population was obese or overweight: 136 (46.3%) and 74 (25.2%), respectively. Most of the cases were symp-tomatic (192, 65.1%). In women, the most common symptom was oli-gomenorrhea (35%). In men, infertility and erectile dysfunction were the most common clinical symptoms (50% and 44.7%, respectively). Idiopathic causes were the most common etiology (108, 36.6%), fol-lowed by pituitary adenomas (81, 27.5%). The majority of patients were treated (184,62.4%), with cabergoline being the most commonly used medication (173, 94.0%).CONCLUSION: The demographic and clinical presentations and causes of hyperprolactinemia in male and female Saudi patients were similar to that in studies in other populations.LIMITATIONS: Single-center retrospective chart review study.CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.