Anti-inflammatory drugs ward off Parkinson's: study

CHICAGO - Regular use of anti-inflammatory drugs appears to lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, perhaps by protecting brain cells that would otherwise die, say researchers.

The risk of Parkinson's was reduced by about 45 per cent among adults who regularly took drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) compared with non-users, a Harvard School of Public Health study found.

These drugs include ibuprofen, indomethacin and naproxen - which can carry their own risks from long-term use such as liver damage.

Those who took two or more aspirin daily also got the protective effect from Parkinson's, which afflicts about 1.5 million Americans, mostly older than 50.

"The results of post mortem studies suggest that inflammation is involved in the development of Parkinson's disease and there is experimental evidence that NSAIDs are protective for the cells that are selectively destroyed," said study author Dr Honglei Chen. It was not known if taking NSAIDs can benefit people who already have Parkinson's, but the drugs have previously been found to have a protective benefit against Alzheimer's disease, said Dr Chen.

The study, published in The Archives of Neurology journal, employed data from two studies involving health workers - a 14-year study of 44,000 men ending in 1990 and an 18-year nurses study with 98,000 women ending in 1998.

Six per cent of the men and 4 per cent of the women regularly used NSAIDs. A total of 415 cases of Parkinson's disease were diagnosed.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Mya Schiess of the University of Texas suggested that refinements in the study's findings may lead to possible treatments of Parkinson's.

Another report in the same journal projected that the number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease will triple to 13.2 million by the year 2050 from 4.5 million in 2000.

- REUTERS