Stopping Cholesterol Drugs and Developing Parkinson's Disease
Lee and colleagues from the Cathay General Hospital looked at the effect of discontinuing lipid lowering statin-based therapy and the development of Parkinson disease (PD) in an article published today in Neurology ahead of print
- The idea of the study was simple-- was there an association between discontinuing statins and developing Parkinson’s disease
- Lipophilic drugs such as simvastatin and Atorvastatin which likely have a better chance of crossing the blood brain barrier, seemed to be associated with the effect the authors sought--- those who discontinued these drugs were more likely to later develop Parkinson's disease
- Women on Simvastatin, and older people on Atorvastatin had more pronounced effects; when a subanalysis of the findings was performed
- Reasons why statins may be helpful in Parkinson's disease include
Anti-inflammatory properties
Lipophilic properties allow it to beat the blood brain barrier
May decrease abnormal proteins in the brain
May also work on dopamine and glutamate pathways
- Remember that if you already have Parkinson's disease whether you take a statin drug will not alter your risk of development of Parkinson's disease (the cat is out of the bag on your diagnosis)
- Perhaps Parkinson's at risk populations (family history of Parkinson's disease) should be aware of these results
Read Dr. Okun's free full summary of Parkinson's disease and statins on the the New England Journal of Medicine Journal Watch