Do statin users risk Parkinsons?
By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News Statins are used to lower cholesterol Statins are used by nearly 2m UK people to prevent heart attacks and stroke by lowering harmful blood cholesterol. But US scientists are concerned after a small study found people with low cholesterol upped their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Now the University of North Carolina team is to study 16,000 people to see if the link is real and causal. If it is, a surge in Parkinson’s cases is imminent they say. But experts argue statins may in fact protect against it. What evidence? Indeed, Dr Xuemei Huang’s group discovered themselves that people on statins were less likely to have Parkinson’s disease. Their study, published in Movement Disorders, included 124 patients with Parkinson’s and 112 of the patients’ partners, who acted as controls. I’m definitely concerned which is why I’m conducting a prospective study of 16,000 people Researcher Dr Xuemei Huang They found that patients with lower “ba
