Abstract
Objective. The aim of the study was an analysis of prolactin concentration before, and in the course of one-year antipsychotic treatment in Polish patients participating in EUFEST study.
Methods. The study included 78 patients (41 mqle, 37 female) with the first episode of schizophrenia allocated in a randomized fashion to the treatment with low dose haloperidol (n=23), amisulpride (n=21), olanzapine (n=22), quetiapine (n=11) or ziprasidone (n=1), for the period of 12 months. Prolactin concentration was assessed at baseline and after 6 and 12 months of treatment.
Results. At baseline, the mean prolactin concentration in the whole group was 56,5 ng/ml and hyperprolactinemia (hPRL) was observed in 86% of patients studied, slightly more than in the whole EUFEST group (71%). Prolactin concentration was similar in drug-naïve patients as in those who had previously received short-term antipsychotic treatment. There was no correlation between prolactin concentration and PANSS and CDSS scores. After 6 month of treatment, the percentage of hyperprolactinemia was 67%, lowest in haloperidol (29%) and highest in amisulpride group (93%). After 12 months of treatment the percentage of hyperprolactinemia was 56%, lowest in quetiapine (36%) and highest in amisulpride group (80%). In female patients there was a significant correlation between prolactin concentration and side-effect measured with UKU scale after 6 and 12 months of treatment.
Conclusions: The finding of hPRL in the majority of patients with the first episode of schizophrenia at the baseline, including patients which were drug-naïve may suggest that hPRL is not due to neuroleptic drugs and may be connected with a pathogenesis of the illness. In the course of one-year antipsychotic treatment, only in patients receiving amisulpride the hyperporlactinemia has been maintained at the initial high level while in remaining groups, there was a reduction by
about 50% of the number of patients having hypeprolactinemia at baseline.