NSAID use and the risk of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with limited pharmacologic therapies. Recent animal studies and one large retrospective study have found NSAIDs to be protective against the development of PD. We decided to test this hypothesis by conducting a nested case-control study using the Saskatchewan drug plan database. Entry to the cohort was defined as the first prescription of an antihypertensive agent between 1980 and 1987 and followed until 1999. Cases were defined as those having received three prescriptions for a dopamine agonist within a year. For each case, ten controls were selected matched to the case by age, calendar time and index date. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate rate ratios adjusting for gender, previous use of arthritis medication and previous antipsychotic use. Current users of NSAIDs had a slightly higher risk of developing PD (RR=1.49 [95% CI, 1.11-2.01]). This effect was not seen with past users (RR=1.18 [95% CI, 0.89-1.59]). Based on the results of our study current users of NSAIDs may be at a slightly higher risk of developing PD. More studies are needed to confirm this finding.