Statins linked to Parkinson's disease
Monday, 15 Jan 2007 12:09
Cholesterol-lowering statins could be linked to Parkinson's disease
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Scientists are to investigate a possible link between cholesterol-lowering drugs and Parkinson's disease.
American researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) are concerned by a study finding an apparent link between statins and Parkinson's, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.
They suggest that statins lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and that people with low LDL cholesterol levels are three-and-a-half times more likely to develop Parkinson's.
Study leader Xuemei Huang of UNC said that she is "definitely concerned" by the findings.
Clinical trials will now be carried out on 16,000 people to investigate the role of statins, Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the Society of Chemical Industry, reports.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) attacked UNC's study as scaremongering, however, arguing that there is no scientific proof of the link between statins and Parkinson's disease.
"Nobody should stop taking statins on the basis of this report. If they do, they will be putting themselves at increased risk of heart attack or stroke," Professor Peter Weissberg of the BHF said.
"We are concerned that any suggestion of a link between statins and Parkinson's disease would unnecessarily scare the millions of people benefiting from statins in the UK."
And Yoav Ben-Shlomo of the University of Bristol told Chemistry & Industry that Huang's study had failed to show whether low LDL cholesterol is a consequence or a cause of Parkinson's.