Parkinson's disease risk reduced with high blood pressure drugs


Parkinson's disease risk reduced with high blood pressure drugs
Parkinson's disease risk is reduced in people taking drugs known as calcium channel blockers to treat high blood pressure, revealed by researchers in US.

The study published in the February 6, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved 7,374 men and women over age 40. Half of the group had Parkinson's disease; the other half did not have Parkinson's disease. Among both groups, nearly half used high blood pressure medications, such as calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, AT II antagonists and beta blockers.

The study found people who were currently long-term users of calcium channel blockers to treat high blood pressure lowered their risk of Parkinson's disease by 23 percent compared to people who didn't take the drugs. There was no such effect among people taking ACE inhibitors, AT II antagonists and beta blockers.

"Long-term use of calcium channel blockers was associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease while no such association was seen for other high blood pressure medicines," said study author Christoph R. Meier, PhD, MSc, with University Hospital Basel in Switzerland.

Meier says more research is needed to determine why calcium channel blockers appear to protect against Parkinson's disease, whether this is indeed a causal association, and why the other high blood pressure medications do not offer a reduced risk.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 20,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.

(Published at Health News Track on February 8, 2008 - 333 days ago)

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American Academy of Neurology - read other health news articles from American Academy of Neurology and health news articles from USA.

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People taking a widely used group of drugs known as calcium channel blockers to treat high blood pressure also appear to be cutting their risk of Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the February 6, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease, paralysis agitans, is a neurodegenerative disease of the substantia nigra of the brain. The disease was first discovered and its symptoms documented in 1817-Essay on the Shaking Palsy, by the British physician Dr. James Parkinson; the associated biochemical changes in the brain of patients were identified in the 1960s.

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