Parkinsonism is a term used to describe a range of neurological diseases that produce movement issues such as tremors, sluggish movement, and stiffness, with Parkinson’s disease being one of the most well-known.

According to a new study, older persons who use statin medicines had a decreased risk of getting parkinsonism later in life than those who do not.

The study was published in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology today.

Statins are medications that lower cholesterol in the blood and protect against atherosclerosis, which is the formation of plaque in the arteries that can cause hardening, heart attack, and stroke.

“Our results suggest people using statins may have a lower risk of parkinsonism and that may be partly caused by the protective effect statins may have on arteries in the brain,” says study author Shahram Oveisgharan. “Our results are exciting, because movement problems in older adults that come under the umbrella of parkinsonism are common, often debilitating and generally untreatable.”

The study looked at 2,841 patients who did not have parkinsonism at the start of the trial and had an average age of 76. 936 people, or 33 percent, were taking statins.

The researchers tracked individuals annually for an average of six years to ensure they were taking their statins as prescribed and to look for evidence of parkinsonism.

Individuals with parkinsonism were defined as having mild impairment for two or more of the following symptoms: tremor, stiffness, parkinsonian gait, which is characterized by small shuffling steps and general slowness of movement, and bradykinesia, a hallmark of parkinsonism that is defined as difficulty moving the body quickly on command.

During the study, 50 percent of the people had signs of parkinsonism by the end. Six years later, 418 of the 936 persons who were taking statins got parkinsonism, compared to 1,014 of the 1,905 patients who were not using statins, or 53 percent.

After adjusting for age, gender, and vascular risk factors such as smoking and diabetes, the researchers discovered that people who took statins had a 16 percent lower risk of developing parkinsonism six years later compared to those who did not take statins. Approximately 79 percent of patients on statin medication took moderate or high-intensity statins. When compared to those using low-intensity statins, people taking higher-intensity statins had a 7 percent lower risk of developing parkinsonism.

The brains of 1,044 patients who died during the study were also examined. They discovered that those who took statins had a 37 percent lower risk of developing atherosclerosis than those who did not take statins.

“More research is needed, but statins could be a therapeutic option in the future to help reduce the effects of parkinsonism in the general population of older adults, not just people with high cholesterol or who are at risk for stroke,” adds Oveisgharan. “At a minimum, our study suggests brain scans or vascular testing may be beneficial for older adults who show signs of parkinsonism but don’t have classic signs of Parkinson’s disease or do not respond to Parkinson’s disease medications.”

Parkinsonism evaluations were not done by specialists in movement disorders, so some cases of Parkinson’s disease may have been misclassified.

Image Credit: Getty

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