New findings from a large national claims database show the use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to be associated with an increased risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD), contrary to previous research suggesting the drugs have a protective effect for PD.
For the new study, presented here at the American Neurological Association (ANA) 2016 Annual Meeting, the researchers turned to data from the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database, including information on 30,343,035 persons aged 40 to 65 years between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012.
In the cross-sectional analysis, the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, including statins or nonstatins, was associated with a significantly higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (odds ratio [OR], 1.61 – 1.67; P < .0001) after adjustment for age, sex, and other comorbidities, such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease.
For a comparative neurodegenerative group, the researchers also looked at the association of statin with diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease but found only a minimal association (OR, 1.01 – 1.12; P = .055).
The associations of cholesterol-lowering medications with PD were strongest among patients with hyperlipidemia, and there were no significant differences between lipophilic or hydrophilic statins, as well as the other nonstatin cholesterol-lowering drugs, in their effect on PD risk.
“We know that overall weight of the literature favors that higher cholesterol is associated with beneficial outcomes in Parkinson’s disease, so it’s possible that statins take away that protection by treating the high cholesterol,” Dr Huang explained.
“Another possibility is that statins can block not only the cholesterol synthesis but also synthesis of coenzyme Q10 that is essential for cell function.”
The researchers also stratified persons according to how long they had been receiving treatment by using a lagged matched case-control analysis of 2458 pairs of PD cases and controls.
In the cross-sectional analysis, both statins and nonstatin cholesterol-lowering drugs were associated with PD, but in the lagged case-control analysis of treatment duration, only statins remained significantly associated with PD risk.
The highest risk was linked to the earlier period after starting statins (OR, 1.93 for less than 1 year of use; 1.83 for 1 to 2.5 years; and 1.37 for 2.5 years or more; P trend < .0001).
“The increased risk of Parkinson’s is more likely when statins are first used, so we think it could be that the statins ‘unmasked’ Parkinson’s,” Dr. Huang said. “Namely, people may be already on the way to Parkinson’s and when they use statins to control the high cholesterol, it gives Parkinson’s a push to reveal its clinical symptoms.
“Based on this data, we think caution should be taken before advancing statins to be protective of Parkinson’s disease,” she added. “The data are not clear yet.”
American Neurological Association (ANA) 2016 Annual Meeting. Abstract S137. Presented October 16, 2016.