Prospective Study of Statin Use and Risk of Parkinson Disease
Archives of Neurology, 03/16/2012 Clinical Article

Gao X et al. – The authors found that regular use of statins was associated with a modest reduction in Parkinson disease (PD) risk. The possibility that some statins may reduce PD risk deserves further consideration.

Methods
  • A prospective study including 38 192 men and 90 874 women participating in 2 ongoing US cohorts, the Health Professional Follow–up Study and the Nurses' Health Study, was conducted.
  • Information on regular cholesterol–lowering drug use (2 times/wk) was collected in 1994 in both cohorts via questionnaire.
  • Relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs were computed using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for age, smoking, caffeine intake, duration of hypercholesterolemia, and other covariates.

Results

  • During 12 years of follow–up (1994–2006), the authors documented 644 incident PD cases (338 women and 306 men).
  • The risk of PD was lower among current statin users (adjusted pooled RR = 0.74; 95% CI, 0.54–1.00; P = .049) relative to nonusers.
  • A significant association was observed in participants younger than 60 years at baseline (adjusted pooled RR = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.11–0.86; P = .02) but not among those who were older (adjusted pooled RR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.60–1.14; P = .25) (P for interaction = .03).