Ibuprofen use cuts Parkinson’s risk 40 per cent: study
March 3, 2011
Jenni Dunning
TORONTO STAR
Taking regular doses of Ibuprofen can lower the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study by the Harvard School of Public Health.
For six years, researchers followed about 136,000 men and women and their use of various anti-inflammatory drugs. Of those people, 291 developed Parkinson’s.
The subjects who took Ibuprofen cut their chances of getting the disease by nearly 40 per cent, compared to those who took other drugs, like Aspirin and Acetaminophen, the study’s lead researcher Alberto Ascherio told the Star.
“We’re not suggesting people should take Ibuprofen to prevent Parkinson’s, (but it may) help people in the early stages of Parkinson’s,” he said.
“We recommend there should be a trial, that Ibuprofin should be tested with patients with Parkinson’s to see if it can slow the disease.”
Dr. Kieran Breen, research director at Parkinson's U.K., told the BBC the study is interesting because “inflammatory changes in the brain may be involved in the death of nerve cells which cause Parkinson's, particularly in the early stages of the condition.”
To study Ibuprofen’s affect in early stages is a main reason why a trial must be done, Ascherio said.
The study, published in the journal Neurology, was funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, named for the Canadian actor who has the disease.
Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease with such symptoms as tremors, stiffness, impaired balance, and rigidity of muscles.
The Harvard study is not the first to examine anti-inflammatory drugs in relation to Parkinson’s, but unlike the others it specifically looks at the affects of using individual drugs, such as Ibuprofen, he said.
Researchers then combined their results with the past 10 years of work on the subject of anti-inflammatories and Parkinson’s, which Ascherio said is all “pointing in the same direction.”
“That is what makes it more exciting. This is basically the final step of many years of research” and now a trial can be done, he said.
“There is no cure for Parkinson disease. Anything that could slow this progression, would be tremendously important.”
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