Statins in Parkinson's Disease: Influence on Motor Progression

Background: It has been speculated that stains are neuroprotective and are associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (PD), but only a few studies have investigated the influence of statins on the progression of PD. Objective: To evaluate whether long-term statin use may affect motor progression in a large cohort of de novo patients with PD. Methods: We conducted a 4-year retrospective observational cohort study to assess patients with PD. The patients were consecutively recruited from a single tertiary center between January 2015 and January 2017. Information on motor function was obtained using the MDS-Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)-III and all subjects were extensively characterized, including information about lifestyle habits, cardiovascular risk factors and cholesterol blood levels. Results: Of the 181 participants included in the study, 104 patients were evaluated for eligibility (42 patients were exposed to statin therapies and 62 were not treated with statins). They presented similar scores in UPDRS III at baseline but the statin users had a lower motor impairment at 4 years compared to non-user PD patients. Additionally, statin treatment resulted in slower progression of the rigidity score of UPDRS over 4 years. No other significant differences were observed between PD patients with and without statins. Conclusion: Early PD patients with long-term statin usage showed lower motor deterioration after 4 years of disease duration compared with patients not taking statins at diagnosis, suggesting a possible influence of statins on disease progression in PD. Further investigation is warranted to understand the potential beneficial effects of statin treatment on clinical symptoms in PD.

Automated summary

The study found that long-term statin use in patients with Parkinson's disease can slow down the progression of motor impairment, especially after 4 years. Statin treatment also resulted in a slower progression of the rigidity score of UPDRS compared to non-users.