The use of statins might not lower one's risk of developing Parkinson's disease after all.
The recent findings contradict past reports suggesting the cholesterol-lowering medications prevent the development of the neurodegenerative brain disorder, Penn State reported. It has been reported that between four and six million people across the globe suffer from Parkinson's disease (PD).
Xuemei Huang, professor of neurology and vice chair for research at Penn State College of Medicine, previously reported an association between high blood cholesterol levels and lower incidence of PD, and other studies have reported similar findings.
Despite these findings, the researchers believed study results on the subject had been relatively inconsistent. The use of statins has also been linked to a lower incidence of PD in a number of recent epidemiology studies, suggesting lower levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) could prevent PD. The problem was these studies did not look at cholesterol levels prior to the onset of statin uses.
To make these recent findings, the team looked at blood cholesterols, mediations, and PD status in a group of participants who were part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. The cholesterol levels were taken at three-year intervals over the course of a decade.
"We confirmed our previous finding that high total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were associated with a lower risk of PD," Huang said. "Moreover, statin use over the course of the study did not protect against PD, and in fact appeared to increase PD risk in the long term. Although the analysis on statin use and PD was based on a fairly small number of PD cases, this preliminary data argues against the hypothesis that statins protect against PD."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Movement Disorders.
