McQuade EC, Ruddy M, Lo Piccolo AJ, et al. Metabolic effects of prolactin-lowering therapy in prolactinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Series Endo Diab Met. 2025;7(3):1-16.
Context: Hyperprolactinemia has been associated with adverse metabolic effects, and treatment of prolactinoma is directed at lowering prolactin levels; however, little is known about the effects of hypoprolactinemia.
Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the metabolic effects of prolactin-lowering therapy in prolactinoma.
Methods: PubMed was searched through November 25, 2024. Mixed-effect meta-regression models were employed to assess for an association between prolactin and selected metabolic measures of body mass index (BMI), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).
Results: A total of 16 studies involving 440 patients (257 women, 183 men) were included. When assessing change with prolactinoma treatment, there was no statistically significant association between change in prolactin levels and change in BMI, LDL, or HOMA-IR. When divided into two groups by post-treatment prolactin levels, the low prolactin group (≤15 mcg/L) trended towards lower BMI (−1.44, 95% CI −4.29–1.41, p = 0.32), lower LDL (−11.02, 95% CI −27.76–5.72, p = 0.20), and lower HOMA-IR (−0.64, 95% CI −2.16–0.87, p = 0.40); however, none of these associations were statistically significant.
Conclusion: Our meta-analysis did not demonstrate a statistically significant association between prolactin and the metabolic risk measures selected in our study. These findings suggest that suppressing prolactin levels to below 15 mcg/L may not have as significant a metabolic impact as previously believed; however, there was limited assessment of very suppressed prolactin levels due to data availability. Further investigation of the metabolic effects of hypoprolactinemia is warranted.
Article DOI: 10.54178/jsedmv7i3002

