Antipsychotic-Induced Hyperprolactinemia and Sexual Dysfunction

This overview of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia provides a summary of the current literature in relation to conventional antipsychotic agents and the five atypical antipsychotics currently available in the United States--clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone. Dopaminergic antagonism within the tuberoinfundibular system causes elevation in plasma prolactin levels. Conventional antipsychotic medications and the atypical agent risperidone cause significant elevations in prolactin. Clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone cause minimal effects on prolactin levels in adults, which may be due to a higher 5-HT2A:D2 binding ratio and differential effects on dopamine neurotransmission, with less interference in the tuberoinfundibular pathway. Antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia presumably causes clinical side effects similar to those caused by other forms of hyperprolactinemia. Clinical and endocrinologic changes of hypogonadism also likely occur during chronic antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. Because hyperprolactinemia may cause clinically significant side effects in patients treated with antipsychotic medications, clinicians should be familiar with the evaluation and treatment of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia.