Statins increase the risk for Parkinson's disease.
Preliminary evidence suggests a link between lower LDL cholesterol levels and Parkinson's disease. This has researchers looking into whether statins might increase the risk for Parkinson's through LDL lowering.
But explain to patients it's too soon to implicate statins as a cause of Parkinson's. In fact, there seems to be a lower occurrence of Parkinson's disease in statin users. It could be that lower LDL cholesterol levels are a consequence of Parkinson's rather than a cause.
Interestingly, statins are being studied for a possible PROTECTIVE effect on Parkinson's. There's some evidence that statins increase dopamine concentration. And the anti-inflammatory effects of statins might be neuroprotective.
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