Monday, researchers from the University of North Carolina and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, discussed their research that found people with low levels of LDL cholesterol are more likely to have Parkinson's disease than people with high LDL levels. Earlier studies discovered intriguing correlations between Parkinson's disease, heart attacks, stroke, and smoking. The Parkinson's community tends to be more heart-healthy than average.
"People with Parkinson's disease have a lower occurrence of heart attack and stroke than people who do not have the disease," said Dr. Xuemei Huang, medical director of the Movement Disorder Clinic at UNC Hospitals. "Parkinson's patients are also more likely to carry the gene APOE-2, which is linked with lower LDL cholesterol." And for more than a decade, researchers have known that smoking, which increases a person's risk for heart disease, is also associated with a decreased risk of Parkinson's disease.These findings led Dr. Huang to examine whether higher LDL cholesterol might be associated with a decreased occurrence for Parkinson's disease, and vice versa. The results of Huang's study, published online by the journal Movement Disorders, confirmed her suspicion. "We found that lower LDL concentrations were indeed associated with a higher occurrence of Parkinson's disease," Huang said.
Participants with lower LDL levels (less than 114 milligrams per deciliter) were 3.5 times more likely to have Parkinson's than the participants with higher LDL levels (more than 138 milligrams per deciliter).
Huang cautioned that people should not change their eating habits, nor their use of statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs, because of the results. The study was based on relatively small numbers of cases and controls, and the results are too preliminary, she said. Further large prospective studies are needed, Huang added.
My Parkinson's Info wishes to emphasize the information in the paragraph above. There is nothing in this study that indicates that higher LDL cholesterol levels are good for people with Parkinson's. We do not wish for anybody to compound their health challenges by increasing their risk of stroke or heart disease.
Indeed this study of 124 Parkinson's patients is a good start, but it is not conclusive. Furthermore the control group was not matched up rigorously with each of the 124 patients.
Dr. Huang now wishes to answer two very important questions about Parkinson's disease and LDL: "One is whether lower cholesterol predates the onset of Parkinson's. Number two, what is the role of statins in that? In other words, does taking cholesterol-lowering drugs somehow protect against Parkinson's? We need to address these questions," she said.
