Patients taking terazosin, a drug prescribed to treat an enlarged prostate, are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
- In France, Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative pathology after Alzheimer’s disease. It concerns 100,000 to 120,000 French people.
- Terazosin, a drug indicated to treat prostate hypertrophy, would reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 12 to 37%.
“Terazosin and similar drugs have recently been found to reduce the progression of Parkinson’s disease in animal models.” This is what researchers from China, Denmark and the University of Iowa (in the United States) have declared. But is this drug used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia also effective in humans? In order to get to the heart of it, these scientists realized a study published in the journal JAMA Neurology.
A reduction in risk of 12 to 37%
To carry it out, the researchers analyzed American and Danish health registers, where 300,000 elderly men were registered. Of these, they identified 147,248 people who had recently taken terazosin and compared this information with data on Parkinson’s disease (prevalence, incidence, symptoms). The scientists also identified 152,752 patients who took tamsulosin, another treatment commonly used to treat enlarged prostate.
Scientists have found that taking “terazosin (which improves cellular energy production) was associated with a 12% to 37% reduction in the risk of Parkinson’s disease”. “These data suggest that terazosin users have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease” than those who took tamsulosin, the study authors concluded.
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