Statins,plasma cholesterol,and risk of Parkinson's disease: A prospective study |
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| Authors: | Xuemei Huang MD PhD Alvaro Alonso MD PhD Xuguang Guo PhD David M Umbach PhD Maya L Lichtenstein MD Christie M Ballantyne MD Richard B Mailman PhD Thomas H Mosley PhD Honglei Chen MD PhD |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Neurology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA;2. Divisions of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA;3. Westat Inc., Durham, North Carolina, USA;4. Biostatistics Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;5. Section of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, and Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Methodist DeBakey Heart Center, Houston, Texas, USA;6. Departments of Pharmacology and Neurology, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA;7. Department of Medicine (Geriatrics), University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA;8. Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA |
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| Abstract: | Previous findings on the association of statins, plasma lipids, and Parkinson's disease (PD) are confounded by the fact that statins also affect lipid profiles. We prospectively examined plasma lipids and statin use in relation to PD in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Statin use and plasma lipids were assessed at baseline (visit 1, 1987‐89) and at three triennial visits thereafter (visits 2‐4) until 1998. Potential PD cases were identified from multiple sources and validated where possible. The primary analysis was limited to incident PD cases diagnosed between 1998 and 2008. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived from multivariate logistic regression models. Statin use was rare at baseline (0.57%) but increased to 11.2% at visit 4. During this time frame, total‐cholesterol levels decreased, particularly among statin users. Fifty‐six PD cases were identified after 1998. Statin use before 1998 was associated with significantly higher PD risk after 1998 (odds ratio = 2.39, 95% confidence interval 1.11‐5.13) after adjusting for total cholesterol and other confounders. Conversely, higher total cholesterol was associated with lower risk for PD after adjustment for statin usage and confounders. Compared with the lowest tertile of average total cholesterol, the odds ratios for PD were 0.56 (0.30‐1.04) for the second and 0.43 (0.22‐0.87) for the third tertile (Ptrend = 0.02). Statin use may be associated with a higher PD risk, whereas higher total cholesterol may be associated with lower risk. These data are inconsistent with the hypothesis that statins are protective against PD. © 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society |
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| Keywords: | Parkinson's disease cholesterol statin cohort study |
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