Abstract Background Systematic echocardiographic screening is currently recommended for patients with hyperprolactinemic disorders treated with dopamine agonists, due to a perceived risk of cardiac valve regurgitation as observed in patients with Parkinson's disease. The dopamine agonist bromocriptine is used frequently in hyperprolactinemia patients, but its relation to cardiac valve disease remain uncertain. Purpose To determine the incidence of valvular heart disease in bromocriptine-treated women with hyperprolactinaemic disorders compared with matched controls from background population. Methods In nationwide Danish registries, we identified patients with hyperprolactinaemic disorders treated with bromocriptine between 1995–2017. Patients were matched 1:5 with population controls based on age and sex using incidence density sampling. We estimated the risk of valvular heart disease defined as admission and/or outpatient clinic visits. Incidence rates, cumulative incidence curve and adjusted cox-proportional hazard models were used to assess outcomes. Results A total of 23883 female bromocriptine users and 119415 controls were included. Median age was 29.9 years (Q1-Q3 26.4–33.8). Both groups had few comorbidities, 218 (0.9%) patients and 787 (0.7%) controls with hypertension, 160 (0.7%) patients and 629 (0.5%) controls with diabetes, 408 (1.7%) patients and 1305 (1.1%) controls were beta-blocker users. During a mean follow-up of 19 years 106 (0.44%) patients and 416 (0.35%) controls were diagnosed with valvular heart disease. Incidence rates were 0.254 per 1000 patient years (PY) in bromocriptine users (95% CI 0.21–0.31) and 0.198 per 1000 PY in the control cohort (95% CI 0.18–0.22). Overall, the cumulative incidence of valvular heart disease was 0.6% (95% CI 0.48–0.73) among patients and 0.5% (95% CI 0.4–0.51) among controls; P=0.03 (figure 1a). In adjusted analysis bromocriptine users still had a significant higher risk of valvular heart disease (hazard ratio=1.32, 95% CI 1.06–1.64, P=0.01). Incidence of valvular heart disease Conclusion The use of bromocriptine in younger and otherwise healthy women with hyperprolactinaemic disorders, were associated with a low absolute risk of cardiac valve disease. Still risk was approximately 30% higher compared with age- and sex matched controls. Our study suggests a low clinical yield of echocardiographic screening in this patient population. Acknowledgement/Funding Internal grant, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet
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