Ibuprofen as a protection against Parkinson?

Does Ibuprofen protect against Parkinson's? Doctors consider US study critical.

05/03/2011

Regular use of ibuprofen protects against Parkinson's disease, according to US researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, who have produced an analysis of over 130,000 participant records from several health studies. Parkinson experts, however, criticize the low significance of the current study.

Analysis of the data from 99,000 women and 37,000 men who had taken part in health studies, according to the US scientists said that the regular use of the painkiller protects Ibuprofen from Parkinson's. However, a precautionary intake is not recommended because of the possible side effects, warn the epidemiologist Xiang Gao and his colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health in the publication of their findings in the current issue of the journal "Neurology".

Association between Parkinson's and anti-inflammatory analgesics?
According to the US researchers, the evaluation of the data from the health studies revealed that
Taking ibuprofen regularly (at least twice a week) reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease by 38 percent. "Parkinson's is incurable so far. The possibility that ibuprofen, an existing and relatively harmless drug, could be a protection against the disease, is a compelling idea, "said Alberto Ascherio of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who also participated in the study. The health studies recorded how often the participants took painkillers and what they were. In the evaluation, the US researchers were able to draw conclusions about the effect of so-called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs on the risk of Parkinson's disease. Other known risk factors (such as age, diet and smoking) have also been taken into account, the US scientists report. In total, Parkinson's disease was diagnosed in 291 study participants during the six-year study period.

Reduction of Parkinson's risk by one third
After determining a 38 percent reduction in Parkinson's risk in the first step of their data analysis, the US researchers included further studies in their investigations in a second step. They came to a similar conclusion, report Xiang Gao and colleagues. Ibuprofen has also reduced the risk of Parkinson's disease by 27 percent. Although the effect was not quite as clear, but also a reduction of Parkinson's risk by almost one-third still provide a considerable protective effect. However, the scientists could not yet clarify how exactly the arylpropionic acid derivative Ibuprofen against Parkinson's effect. According to the US researchers, the anti-inflammatory effect could prevent the inflammatory changes in the brain, which are a trigger for Parkinson's. It is also conceivable that ibuprofen may protect the brain cells and thus slow the progression of the disease, said Xiang Gao and colleagues.

Preventive use of ibuprofen not recommended
However, prophylactic use of ibuprofen is not recommended, according to the US researchers, as especially with prolonged use, severe side effects such as bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract may have occurred. According to Alberto Ascherio, further clinical trials will need to examine "whether slower disease progression justifies such risks." In addition, neurologist James Bower of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester warned doctors in an editorial to the article in the journal "Neurology" that doctors should not recommend their patients Ibuprofen for Parkinson's prevention, because the risks of the side effects are too large and the validity of the current study too low. In addition, "there are still a lot of open questions," said James Bower.

Parkinson's experts judge current study critically
Even the physician Wolfgang Jost of the German Parkinsongesellschaft criticized the low significance of the current study, because the manifestation of Parkinson's disease may take up to 20 years, the study period of the study is therefore not meaningful. In addition, "anti-inflammatory drugs (...) attributed a small effect on Parkinson's disease for a long time", which is not clinically relevant, said Wolfgang Jost. "While there may be inflammatory changes in the nerve cells in the brain during the course of the disease, we still do not know whether this is a cause or a consequence of the disease," the critic continues. Therefore, it is doubtful whether the anti-inflammatory effect of ibuprofen can protect against the onset of Parkinson's disease. Overall, the expert of the Deutsche Parkinsongesellschaft is extremely skeptical of the results of the current study.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease
As a degenerative disease of the extrapyramidal-motor system (EPS) - responsible among other things for motor skills - Parkinson's occurs predominantly later in life. Most commonly, the neurological disorder is diagnosed between the ages of 55 and 65, with the cells dying in the brain that produce the messenger dopamine. Due to the lack of dopamine, the information transfer in the EPS is disturbed, whereby the motor function of the affected is impaired in their function, which manifests itself in tremors and movement disorders. According to estimates by the competence network Parkinson, between 100,000 and 250,000 people in Germany suffer from Parkinson's disease. Every year on average around 10,000 new diagnoses are made in Germany. The treatment of Parkinson's disease is based so far mainly on the relief of discomfort caused by drug treatment - there are no prospects for recovery.

Side effects of Ibuprofen
The potential side effects of ibuprofen, which US researchers warn in their current article, include gastrointestinal complaints such as heartburn, nausea, or diarrhea, as well as the occurrence of gastrointestinal bleeding, peptic ulcer, or gastritis. According to the experts, the dose and the duration of use of ibuprofen are decisive for the occurrence of possible side effects. From a preventive use against Parkinson over several years or decades is therefore not only in the opinion of critical experts like Wolfgang Jost in any case advised against. In addition, hypersensitivity reactions such as skin rash or itching of the skin may occur even at lower doses.

Parkinson's in Naturopathy
Symptoms of Parkinson's disease can be mitigated with naturopathy methods such as relaxation, meditation, breathing and exercise exercises. These include methods and therapies such as qigong, yoga as well as acupuncture and massages. (Fp)

Also read:
Treatment options for Parkinson's
Parkinson's Disease: Source of Discovery Discovered

Picture: Gerd Altmann