This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Google Scholar Articles by Kars, M. Articles by Dekkers, O. M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kars, M. Articles by Dekkers, O. M. Related Collections Neuroendocrinology and Pituitary

Estimated Age- and Sex-Specific Incidence and Prevalence of Dopamine Agonist-Treated Hyperprolactinemia

Departments of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (M.K., J.A.R., O.M.D.) and Clinical Epidemiology (J.P.V., O.M.D.), Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands; Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy (P.C.S., A.d.B.), Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands; PHARMO Institute for Drug Outcome Research (R.M.C.H.), 3508 AE Utrecht, The Netherlands; and Department of Health Policy and Management (R.M.C.H.), Erasmus Medical Center, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: O. M. Dekkers, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, C7-R, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: o.m.dekkers{at}lumc.nl.

Context: Few data exist on sex- and age-specific incidence and prevalence of idiopathic hyperprolactinemia and prolactinomas.

Objectives: Our objective was to assess incidence and prevalence of dopamine agonist-treated hyperprolactinemia by age and sex.

Design: From the PHARMO network, we identified an open cohort of patients who were ever dispensed dopamine agonists for hyperprolactinemia. The network includes complete medication histories for more than 2 million community-dwelling residents. Prolonged use of low-dose dopamine agonist is a reliable marker for hyperprolactinemia, provided that use for Parkinson’s disease and lactation withdrawal is excluded. Diagnoses were verified by prolactin values in a random subsample using the same network.

Results: We identified 11,314 subjects with at least one dispensing of dopamine agonist in the period 1996–2006, of whom 1607 subjects were considered to have dopamine agonist-treated hyperprolactinemia based on the prescribing pattern. The majority of patients were women (n = 1342, 84%). The diagnosis proved to be incorrect in only 1.5% of a random subsample. The estimated incidence rate of dopamine agonist-treated hyperprolactinemia for women was 8.7/100,000 person-years and for men 1.4/100,000 person-years. The highest incidence rate was found in women 25–34 yr of age: 23.9/100,000 person-years. The mean prevalence of ever treated female patients was almost five times higher (93.9/100,000) compared with male patients (19.6/100,000).

Conclusion: The incidence rates and the prevalence of dopamine agonist-treated hyperprolactinemia showed an overall preponderance in women, with a strong peak for women aged 25–34 yr. In men, no peak was found.