Statins and low cholesterol associated with a higher risk of Parkinson's disease

This study was published in Movement Disorders 2015 Jan 14

Study title and authors:
Statins, plasma cholesterol, and risk of Parkinson's disease: A prospective study.

Huang X, Alonso A, Guo X, Umbach DM, Lichtenstein ML, Ballantyne CM, Mailman RB, Mosley TH, Chen H.
Department of Neurology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25639598

This study examined the relationship between cholesterol levels and statin use in relation to Parkinson's disease. The study included 15,792 participants, aged 45-64 years, who were followed for 11 years.

The study found:
(a) Statin users had a 139% higher risk of Parkinson's compared to non-users.
(b) Those with the highest cholesterol had a 57% reduced risk of Parkinson's compared to those with the lowest cholesterol.

Professor Huang concluded: "Statin use may be associated with a higher Parkinson's disease risk, whereas higher total cholesterol may be associated with lower risk".

Statins and fibrates increase the risk of Parkinson's

This study was published in Drug Safety 2008;31(5):399-407

Study title and authors:
Use of statins and the risk of Parkinson's disease: a retrospective case-control study in the UK.

Becker C, Jick SS, Meier CR.
Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18422380

This study set out to explore the risk of the development of Parkinson's disease in people with untreated high cholesterol and with people treated with statins and fibrates. 3,637 people with Parkinson's were compared with the same number of controls.

The study found:
(a) Those people with high cholesterol who did not take statins had a 2% lower risk of Parkinson's compared to those with lower cholesterol.
(b) Those who took statins had a 6% higher risk of Parkinson's.
(c) Those who took fibrates had a 25% higher risk of Parkinson's.

The results of this study show that statins and fibrates increase the risk of Parkinson's.

Links to other studies:
Possible link with statins and dementia
Statins implicated in multiple sclerosis
Statins may be implicated in neurodegenerative diseases

Statins may be implicated in neurodegenerative diseases

This post includes a summary of a paper published in Neurobiology of Aging 2010 Sep;31(9):1543-53

Study title and authors:
Mevastatin accelerates loss of synaptic proteins and neurite degeneration in aging cortical neurons in a heme-independent manner.

Kannan M, Steinert JR, Forsythe ID, Smith AG, Chernova T.

Books:

MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18951667

Kannan investigated the effectes of statins on cultured neurons.

The study found:
(a) Statins impaired synaptic proteins.
(b) Statins reduced N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor currents (N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor currents help in memory funcion).
(c) Statins accelerated neurodegeneration associated with aging.

To conclude: Statins exert a neurotoxic effect in cultured neurons and may be implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Amyothrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis and Huntington’s.

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