January 12, 2007

scientists respond to the suggested link between statins and Parkinson’s disease

The comments follow the announcement of an in-depth study to investigate any link between statins and Parkinson’s disease.

Dr Patricia Limousin, Consultant Neurologist, Institute of Neurology, UCL, said:

“There is absolutely no evidence that statin drugs cause Parkinson’s disease. In fact these drugs were related to a lower occurrence of Parkinson’s disease in Huang’s study raising the possibility of a protective effect that warrants further investigations.”

Dr David Dexter, Senior Lecturer in Neuropharmacology, Imperial College, London, said:

“With the evidence we have at the moment, I would say there is not much cause for concern that statin use may cause Parkinson’s disease.

“The study by Huang and colleagues indicating an association between lower LDL-C levels and Parkinson’s disease goes against current scientific beliefs. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated that statins can increase brain dopamine concentration, the chemical transmitter deficient in Parkinson’s, and that statins have been shown to protect nerve cells in models of neurodegeneration. Also one of the secondary symptoms some patients with Parkinson’s experience is dementia, similar to Alzheimer’s disease, which may result from vascular changes in the brain. Statins would be expected to protect the brain against such vascular changes.

“Although the association is worrying, the study was carried out only in a small number of subjects and hence needs confirming in a larger population. Lower LDL-C levels may also be a consequence of Parkinson’s and not a cause. Indeed, the study did not take into account the dietary intake of the two groups in the study, this may be important since some Parkinson’s patients find it difficult to eat or even swallow food thus reducing the intake of fats. Also the healthy subjects in the study had a higher usage of statins that those with Parkinson’s which goes against any association.”