[Oral steroid contraception in hyperprolactinemia (author's transl)]

A study on the statistical correlation between oral contraceptives and similar mixtures of steroids and the development and maintenance of hyperprolactinemia is presented. 91 cases with hyperprolactinemia-amenorrhoea were compared to a group of 91 women with amenorrhoea and normal prolactinemia. Matched pairs regarding duration of amenorrhoea, parity, gonadal function and thyroid function were used. It was shown that oral contraceptives and similar combination of estrogen and progesterone do not increase the relative risk for functional or adenomatous hyperprolactinemia. There were no evidence that existing adenomas were deteriorating during oral contraception. However, two cases with pituitary adenoma following long-term high dosage estrogen therapy was found. The presented results show that low dosage steroid medications do not increase the risk for the development or maintenance of hyperprolactinemia.