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Psychosomatics 49:163-167, April 2008
doi: 10.1176/appi.psy.49.2.163
© 2008 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
Case Report
Antipsychotic-Induced Hyperprolactinemia and Delusion of Pregnancy
Niraj Ahuja, M.B.B.S., M.D., M.R.C.Psych., Steve Moorhead, M.B.Ch.B.,
M.R.C.Psych., Adrian J. Lloyd, M.B.B.S., M.R.C.Psych., M.D., and
Andrew J. Cole, M.A., M.B.B.S., F.R.C.Psych.
Received June 12, 2007; accepted October 4, 2007. From the
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, and the School of Neurology,
Neurobiology, and Psychiatry, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
Send correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Niraj Ahuja, Wallsend
Community Mental Health Team, Sir G.B. Hunter Memorial Hospital, The
Green, Wallsend, UK NE28 7PD. e-mail: niraj.ahuja%40ntw.nhs.uk">niraj.ahuja
ntw.nhs.uk ;
Niraj.ahuja%40ncl.ac.uk">Niraj.ahujancl.ac.uk
© 2008 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
The authors describe 12 patients with antipsychotic-induced
hyperprolactinemia. Six patients had erroneous ideas of being
pregnant (four delusional and two non-delusional) temporally
associated with hyperprolactinemia and resolving as prolactin levels
returned to normal. The remaining six patients did not develop such
ideas. Contrasting the clinical features of the two groups of
patients in the context of existing literature informs on the
possible biological and cognitive mechanisms that can be hypothesized
to underlie the relationship between hyperprolactinemia due to
antipsychotics and the development of inaccurate beliefs and feelings
about pregnancy, and the effect of current mental state on the
propensity to develop these beliefs.
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