Study: Older people who take statin drugs have a lower risk of Parkinson’s

Parkinsonism refers to a group of neurological conditions that cause movement problems such as tremors, slowed movement, and stiffness, with Parkinson’s disease being one of the most well-known.

According to a new study led by the American Academy of Neurology, older people who take statin drugs have a lower risk of developing parkinsonism later in life than people who do not take statins.

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The study’s findings were published in the journal ‘Neurology.’

Parkinsonism refers to a group of neurological conditions that cause movement problems such as tremors, slowed movement, and stiffness, with Parkinson’s disease being one of the most well-known.

Statins are medications that lower cholesterol levels in the blood and protect against atherosclerosis, which is a buildup of plaque in the arteries that can lead to artery hardening, heart attack, and stroke.

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“Our findings suggest that people who use statins may have a lower risk of parkinsonism, which may be due in part to the protective effect statins may have on arteries in the brain,” said Rush University Medical Center in Chicago study author Shahram Oveisgharan, MD.

“Our findings are exciting because movement problems in older adults associated with parkinsonism are common, often debilitating, and generally incurable,” he added.

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The study included 2,841 people with an average age of 76 who did not have parkinsonism at the outset. Statins were taken by 936 people or 33% of those surveyed.

Researchers checked in on participants once a year for an average of six years to see how they were doing on their statins and to look for signs of parkinsonism.

People were diagnosed with parkinsonism if they had two or more of the following symptoms: tremor, stiffness, parkinsonian gait, which is characterized by small shuffling steps and general slowness of movement, and bradykinesia, which is difficulty moving the body quickly on command.

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By the end of the study, 1,432 people, or half of the participants, had developed signs of parkinsonism. Six years later, 418 people, or 45%, of those taking statins developed parkinsonism, compared to 1,014 people, or 53%, of those not taking statins.

After controlling for age, gender, and vascular risks such as smoking and diabetes that could affect the risk of parkinsonism, researchers discovered that people who had taken statins had a 16%lower risk of developing parkinsonism six years later compared to those who had not taken statins.

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Approximately 79% of those on statin therapy were on moderate or high-intensity statins. Researchers discovered that people who took higher-intensity statins had a 7% lower risk of developing parkinsonism than those who took low-intensity statins.