[A study on hyperprolactinemia in female patients with alcoholics]

The clinical signs and symptoms of sexual dysfunction with amenorrhoea, loss of libido and infertility, are frequently found in chronic alcoholic women. But few investigations have been made concerning hormonal changes in fertile aged women experiencing sexual dysfunction. In order to assess prolactin levels of fertile-aged women with alcoholism under 40 years of age-excluding those with liver cirrhosis were surveyed. We found that many of them (82.6%) had moderate elevations of plasma prolactin. Hyperprolactinemia is commonly associated with amenorrhoea and hypogonadism. An acute alcohol loading experiment was conducted on 6 healthy female volunteers in luteal phases of their menstrual cycles in order to evaluate the effects of alcohol on the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovarian axis. Evidence was obtained that alcohol intake caused transient hyperprolactinemia. The present results indicated that hyperprolactinemia can occur with high frequency among alcoholic women and this causes sexual dysfunction and ovarian dysfunction. The etiology of hyperprolactinemia could not be explained solely by the direct action of alcohol, rather, liver dysfunction must be implicated.