Statins and low cholesterol associated with a higher risk of Parkinson's disease

This study was published in Movement Disorders 2015 Jan 14

Study title and authors:
Statins, plasma cholesterol, and risk of Parkinson's disease: A prospective study.

Huang X, Alonso A, Guo X, Umbach DM, Lichtenstein ML, Ballantyne CM, Mailman RB, Mosley TH, Chen H.
Department of Neurology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25639598

This study examined the relationship between cholesterol levels and statin use in relation to Parkinson's disease. The study included 15,792 participants, aged 45-64 years, who were followed for 11 years.

The study found:
(a) Statin users had a 139% higher risk of Parkinson's compared to non-users.
(b) Those with the highest cholesterol had a 57% reduced risk of Parkinson's compared to those with the lowest cholesterol.

Professor Huang concluded: "Statin use may be associated with a higher Parkinson's disease risk, whereas higher total cholesterol may be associated with lower risk".