[The basal concentration and characteristics of the diurnal secretory rate of prolactin in women with primary hypothyroidism].

Basal concentration was measured of prolactin (PRL) as were its diurnal fluctuations in blood depending on the clinical association of primary hypothyrosis (PH) with lactorrhea-amenorrhea, lactorrhea only or lactorrhea associated with disturbances in menstrual and reproductive functions that differ from those in amenorrhea, and without such disturbances. Patients with lactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome present with continual hyperprolactinemia and no physiological diurnal rythm of PRL secretion. In patients presenting without amenorrhea, and basal hyperprolactinemia, lactorrhea and disordered menses result from transitory "night-time" hyperprolactinemia. PH patients who do not present with lactorrhea and disordered menstrual and reproductive function show physiological diurnal rythm of PRL secretion, with its parameters corresponding to those in healthy women. The development of hyperprolactinemia in PH is not age-related; neither is it associated with severity of hypothyrosis.