Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149:367-370
Copyright © 1992 by American Psychiatric Association
Serum prolactin levels in homosexual and bisexual men with HIV infection
JM Gorman, PA Warne, MD Begg, TB Cooper, H Novacenko, JB Williams, J Rabkin, Y Stern and AA Ehrhardt
HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY 10032.
OBJECTIVE: Prolactin is a neurohormone that may be secreted in response to
stress and also has regulatory effects on the immune system. Some, but not
all, studies suggest that prolactin levels are higher than normal in
persons with HIV infection. The authors measured prolactin levels in
HIV-positive and HIV-negative homosexual and bisexual men to assess
possible differences in levels and then examined relationships between
prolactin level and measures of medical status, anxiety, depression,
stress, and neuropsychological test performance. METHOD: Blood for
prolactin level determination was obtained from 121 HIV- seropositive and
79 HIV-seronegative homosexual and bisexual men enrolled in a longitudinal
study. The men also underwent a daylong assessment that included medical,
immunological, psychiatric, psychosocial, psychosexual, and
neuropsychological evaluations. RESULTS: There was no statistically
significant difference in serum prolactin level among the seronegative men,
the seropositive men with no or minimal physical symptoms, and the
seropositive men with significant physical symptoms of HIV infection.
Furthermore, within the HIV-seropositive group, the correlations between
serum prolactin level and measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and
neuropsychological test performance were all nonsignificant. CONCLUSIONS:
Serum prolactin level does not seem to respond to HIV infection or to be
related to stress or psychiatric symptoms in HIV-infected men. As none of
the subjects had AIDS, the possibility cannot be ruled out that prolactin
level increases in very late stages of HIV infection.
