Statin Drugs May Reduce Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

Stopping your cholesterol-lowering drugs may increase your risk of Parkinson’s disease, a new study suggests. The study involved 43,810 people in Taiwan who were taking statins and did not have Parkinson’s disease when the study began. Researchers used pharmacy records to verify statin use. People who stopped taking certain statins had a 58% higher risk of Parkinson’s disease than those who continued taking their statin medicine. Only statins such as simvastatin and atorvastatin were associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease. These are “fat soluble.” They tend to deposit in fat-containing tissues and are thought to get into brain tissue more easily than other statins. People who took water-soluble statins, such as pravastatin and rosuvastatin, did not have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease compared to those who stopped the drug.