In France, approximately 200,000 people suffer from Parkinson’s disease. This chronic neurodegenerative disease (characterized by the destruction of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain) manifests itself through 3 specific symptoms: slowness in movement, rigidity of the limbs and tremor at rest.
Several scientific studies have already identified effective “bulwarks” against Parkinson’s disease: thus, people who consume a lot of red fruits on a daily basis, who play sports every day and sleep well would (unsurprisingly) have a lower risk than the others to develop this chronic pathology.
Statins “protect” the arteries of the brain
More surprisingly, no doubt: according to a new study from the Rush University Medical Center (in the United States), treatments based on statins also have the power to keep Parkinson’s disease at bay. To reach this conclusion, the American researchers followed for 6 years a group of 2841 volunteers aged 76 on average who did not suffer from Parkinson’s disease at the start of the study. Of these, 936 (33%) regularly took statins.
Verdict? The researchers calculated that people taking statins had, on average, a 16% lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease: they hypothesize that this positive impact is linked to the fact that statins “protect” the arteries from brain against atherosclerosis.
As a reminder, statins are drugs prescribed against hypercholesterolemia, that is to say excess cholesterol in the blood; these molecules (Tahor®, Crestor®, Pravachol®, etc.) can also be prescribed for prevention after a myocardial infarction (heart attack) or a stroke. In France, about 7 million people use statins more or less regularly.
This work has been published in the specialized journal Neurology.
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