Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective: To explore the effects of SSRIs sertraline, escitalopram and paroxetine on serum prolactin level in patients with depression, and analyze the related factors influencing the change of prolactin level. Methods: A total of 180 patients with depression were randomly divided into three groups and treated with sertraline, escitalopram and paroxetine respectively for 12 weeks. Serum prolactin were measured at baseline and at the end of the 12th week. The changes of serum prolactin and the incidence of hyperprolactinemia were analyzed and compared among the three groups, and the correlation between the changes of serum prolactin and drug dose was analyzed. Results: After 12 weeks of treatment, serum prolactin levels in the escitalopram group were significantly higher than those at baseline (P＜0.05), sertraline group and paroxetine group had no significant change from baseline (P>0.05), there was no significant difference in serum prolactin number among the three groups (P> 0.05). The incidence of hyperprolactinemia induced by the three drugs was 7.02% in sertraline group, 28.81% in escitalopram group and 10.34% in paroxetine group, respectively.There were significant differences in the incidence of hyperprolactinemia among the three groups (P<0.05), Bonferroni correction showed that the incidence of hyperprolactinemia in escitalopram group was higher than that in sertraline group (P<0.05) and paroxetine (P<0.05). Conclusion: In clinical practice, SSRIs can cause hyperprolactinemia, and escitalopram in particular is more common in increasing prolactin and leading to hyperprolactinemia. Therefore, doctors should pay attention to the monitoring of serum prolactin in the treatment of SSRIs antidepressants.

SSRIs; Prolactin; Hyperprolactinemia; Depression