Low Cholesterol Increases Risk of Parkinson's in Men - High Cholesterol Message Board

Uff-Da! · 09-30-2005, 10:49 AM

For those who didn't see it, Reuters Health reported today on research presented by Dr. Xuemei Huang at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association. The research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill compared 124 Parkinson's patients with 112 controls. Men with LDL cholesterol levels between 91 and 135 were six times more likely to be affected by Parkinson's. Those with LDL levels below 91 were 4 times more likely to be so affected, compared to those with higher levels. There was no such association for women.

ARIZONA73 · 09-30-2005, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uff-Da!

Men with LDL cholesterol levels between 91 and 135 were six times more likely to be affected by Parkinson's. Those with LDL levels below 91 were 4 times more likely to be so affected, compared to those with higher levels.

Huh? I'm a little confused here. Those with LDL levels of between 91 and 135 were six times MORE LIKELY to be affected by Parkinson's?? And those with LDL levels LOWER than 91 were four times more likely to be affected, while those with levels above 135 were the least likely to be affected? This pattern doesn't quite make sense to me. Are you sure you got this right?

Uff-Da! · 09-30-2005, 08:46 PM

Yes, I got it right, at least that's what was reported in the news. I haven't seen the actual paper, of course. Perhaps it will show up in one of the journals in the future. I suspect that it is the relatively small number of subjects that caused this odd "happening" with the six times vs. four times. But note the result was consistent in that LDL lower than 135 spelled increased risk for Parkinson's, and a very strong increased risk at that. Sounds like the men can't win. Decrease your risk for CVD but increase risk for Parkinson's.

Though they don't know the reason for the association at this point, one of the theories the author suggested is that perhaps cholesterol plays some role in getting rid of environmental toxins that might trigger Parkinson's. Apparently several other possibilities were also suggested.

ARIZONA73 · 09-30-2005, 09:18 PM

Hmm, so all they mentioned were LDL numbers, and nothing else? There was no mention of HDL levels, and what effect, if any, that it might have? To be quite honest with you, I'm rather skeptical. I think that other factors are not being reported. That's the trouble with studies. There are too many unanswered questions. Most studies tend to be very vague, leaving many questions unanswered.

Uff-Da! · 09-30-2005, 10:00 PM

Remember, this was just a news report from a presentation at a professional conference. I have no knowledge of the study itself being published at this point, and that is where we'd expect to see more details. Who knows, maybe it never will be published. The news article was relatively brief, but it is already showing up in a web search. It shouldn't take too much imagination for you to determine what key words to use to find it.

No, nothing was said about HDL. TC was mentioned though, but not with any detail:

Quote:

Huang reported that, after adjusting for age, smoking, and use of lipid-lowering agents, men with low total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels had an increased risk of Parkinson's.