TUESDAY, June 20, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- People on cholesterol-lowering statins may have a slightly increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a new study suggests.
Researchers said the finding doesn't prove statins are to blame. But, they added, the findings undercut the notion that statins might help protect against Parkinson's.
Where does that idea come from? Past research has shown that people with high cholesterol tend to have a lower risk of Parkinson's, explained Dr. Xuemei Huang, a professor of neurology at Penn State College of Medicine.
Since many of those people are treated with statins, that led to speculation that the drugs -- rather than high cholesterol itself -- might be protective.
But so far, studies have come to mixed conclusions, according to Huang. Some have tied statins to a lower Parkinson's risk, while others have found either no connection or an increased risk.
Enter the new study. Using medical records from over 4,600 U.S. adults -- with and without Parkinson's -- Huang's team found that statin users had a higher risk of being diagnosed with the neurological disease.
When the researchers dug deeper, they found that certain statins -- those that are fat-soluble, rather than water-soluble -- were tied to Parkinson's risk.
That's notable, according to Huang, because only fat-soluble statins can cross from the blood into the brain. Fat-soluble statins include drugs such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol) and simvastatin (Zocor).
"This doesn't mean that statins are causing Parkinson's," Huang noted.
She stressed that people who are taking the drugs to cut their risk of heart attack and stroke should not stop.
But, Huang said, the findings raise an important question: Could some statins hasten the progression of someone who is in the early, symptom-free stages of Parkinson's?
The study uncovered hints that could be the case, according to Huang. People on statins faced an increased risk of a Parkinson's diagnosis within 2.5 years of starting the drugs, but those odds dipped thereafter.
A neurologist who was not involved in the study said the connection between statins and Parkinson's has been controversial.
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