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".

High levels of cholesterol significantly decrease the risk of Parkinson's

This study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (15 November 2006) 164 (10): 998-1002

Study title and authors:
Serum Cholesterol Levels and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease
Lonneke M. L. de Lau 1 , 2 , Peter J. Koudstaal 2 , Albert Hofman 1 and Monique M. B. Breteler 1
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2Department of Neurology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

This study can be accessed at: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/164/10/998.short
 
The authors examined the association between levels of cholesterol and the risk of Parkinson's disease among 6,465 subjects aged 55 or more years with 9.4 years of follow-up.
 
The study found:
(a) Those with the highest cholesterol levels, above 7.4 mmol/L (286 mg/dL), had a 45% decreased risk of Parkinson's disease compared to those with the lowest cholesterol, below 5.9 mmol/L (228 mmol/L).
(b) Men with the highest cholesterol levels had a 14% decreased risk of Parkinson's disease compared to men with the lowest cholesterol.
(c) Women with the highest cholesterol levels had a 84% decreased risk of Parkinson's disease compared to women with the lowest cholesterol.

The results of the study show that high cholesterol levels significantly decrease the risk of Parkinson's disease.
 
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