Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To study the effect of age and gender on manifestation of hyperprolactinaemia.

Methods: Patients were examined using generally accepted methods of diagnosis. 207 patients with prolactinomas were divided into two groups: before and after 50 years. It was a retrospective study with no interventions to generally accepted methods of diagnosis and treatment. The outcomes were measured by frequency of hyperprolactinaemia symptoms according to age and gender.

Results: In patients who are <50 years prolactinomas were observed in 91% of women and 9% of men. The main clinical symptoms in women and men were presented by hyperprolactinaemic hypogonadism. Menstrual irregularities were observed in 70% of women, galactorrhoea – in 54%, infertility – in 53%. Macroadenomas were detected in 13% of women. Clinical signs of hypogonadism in men were presented by decreased libido (100%), erectile dysfunction (80%), infertility (6%) and depression (98%). Macroadenomas were diagnosed in 58% of men. In group over the age of 50 years prolactinomas were diagnosed in 61% of women and 39% of men. Clinical manifestation of the disease, both in women and men, was presented by neurological symptoms: headaches – in 86% of women and in 79% of men; visual disturbances – in 56% of women and 78% of men. Macroadenomas were detected in 68% of women and 89% of men.

Conclusion: People of reproductive age developed typical clinical picture of hyperprolactinaemic hypogonadism, which is well recognised in women, while often ignored in men. The frequency of macroprolactinomas with chiasmatic syndrome increases in both sexes over the age of 50 years, that is partly due to the lack of vivid clinical signs of hyperprolactinaemia in the period of menopause.