Statin Use May Decrease Parkinson Disease Risk

Adults taking statins have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson disease, regardless of age or sex. These study findings were published in Brain Communications.

Currently, studies evaluating the relationship between statin use and Parkinson disease have yielded mixed results and often lack clinically useful information regarding cumulative exposure or statin type. Using large-scale claim data from the Longevity Improvement and Fair Evidence (LIFE) study, the current analysis aimed to elucidate the association between statin use and Parkinson disease among Japanese adults.

Investigators conducted a nested case-control study using linked medical and long-term care claims data collected between April 2014 and December 2020 from the LIFE study. The investigators used International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes to match cases and controls in 1:5 ratio, with controls matched to cases based on age at cohort entry, sex, municipality, and year of cohort entry. The index date for the cases was defined as the date of initial Parkinson disease diagnosis. To evaluate statin use, the investigators searched medical claims data for the following 6 medications: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. 

A total of 56,186 participants (53.6% women) were included in the current analysis, 9,397 individuals of whom were diagnosed with Parkinson disease (cases) and 46,789 participants served as control comparators. Overall, the case group had a higher prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF), cardiac arrhythmias, peripheral vascular disease, renal failure, psychosis, and depression relative to the control group. The control group had fewer long-term care claims and a higher frequency of monthly outpatient visits compared with the case group.

The investigators found that statin use was associated with a decreased risk for Parkinson disease (odds ratio [OR], 0.61; 95% CI, 0.56-0.66) relative to non-use. This finding was similar for both men (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.54-0.70) and women (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.54-0.68), and did not significantly differ across age groups (P =.17)

After adjusting for comorbidities at lookback period, the investigators observed a dose-response relationship between statins and Parkinson disease, as higher cumulative statin use was associated with a lower risk of Parkinson disease. Parkinson disease risk was highest among individuals who had no history of statin us (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.12-1.52), while participants with TSDDs over 180 had the lowest risk (OR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.25-0.35)

Due to limited data for fluvastatin and simvastatin use, the investigators observed no significant association between statin type and Parkinson disease risk.

These findings suggest that statins may have a protective effect against Parkinson disease. “Notably, lower cumulative statin doses were associated with an elevated risk of [Parkinson] disease, whereas higher cumulative doses exhibited protective effects against [Parkinson] disease development,” the investigators concluded

Study limitations include the use of ICD-10 codes to define outcomes, the relatively short follow-up period of 2 years, and a lack of data regarding serum cholesterol levels or medication adherence.

This article originally appeared on Psychiatry Advisor