ArticleAustralasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists2023
Association between long-term use of prolactin-elevating antipsychotics in women and the risk of breast cancer: What are the clinical implications?
Article in Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Repurposing Antipsychotic Agents in Oncology: Mechanistic Rationale, Emerging Evidence, and Therapeutic Potential.Cancers · 2026Review
- Prolactin-elevating Antipsychotics: Anti-hero or Savior?Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Aripiprazole use and lowering the risk of breast cancer in patient with schizophrenia in a national cohort study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Effects of antipsychotic drugs during radiotherapy in breast cancer in South Korea: a retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Multimorbidity and the Etiology of Schizophrenia.Current psychiatry reports · 2024Review
- Monitoring the Effectiveness of Treatment in Women with Schizophrenia: New Specialized Cooperative Approaches.Brain sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSome antipsychotic drugs elevate prolactin, and hyperprolactinaemia is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Women with schizophrenia have an increased incidence of breast cancer, but also multiple risk factors for the condition.
methodThis paper will critically review recent epidemiological studies concerning antipsychotics and breast cancer from a psychiatric perspective.
resultsTwo recent epidemiological studies have found an association between use of prolactin-elevating antipsychotics and breast cancer in women with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Prolactin-elevating drugs include paliperidone, risperidone, amisulpride and haloperidol, whilst prolactin-sparing antipsychotics included aripiprazole, brexpiprazole, cariprazine and quetiapine. In the two studies, estimated increased risks of breast cancer were disconcertingly high (up to 62%), but a third recent study found only a weak dose-response association. There are extensive methodological complications in this research, including the extent to which studies measure other risk factors for breast cancer and disagreement about the extent of prolactin elevation by some antipsychotics.
conclusionAlthough causation between prolactin elevating antipsychotics and breast cancer in women has not been demonstrated, recent epidemiological reports are worrying. For women on antipsychotics, informed consent should ideally include discussion of breast cancer concerns within the wider context of treatment benefits and risks.
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