Blood Pressure Drugs Might Prevent Parkinson's

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The strongest reduction in risk was seen in patients who had had 30 or more prescriptions filled and were still receiving prescriptions within 90 days prior to the diagnosis of Parkinson's, the researchers said.

Women tended to have more of a risk reduction than men but not if they had had less than 30 prescriptions filled. Individuals over the age of 80 had the most pronounced lowering of risk.

But even the study authors acknowledged that it's not clear where to go next with the findings.

"It may be desirable that basic research activities explore the effect of calcium channel blockers on the central nervous system which may lead (in theory) to new therapeutic strategies or even new drugs to prevent or treat Parkinson's," Meier said. "Regarding clinical or epidemiological/observational research, it would be nice if other research groups analyzed their databases and came up with their findings. They may either confirm our observations or come to the conclusion that our finding is isolated and that there is no need to further pursue this issue."

Dr. Ralph Sacco, professor and chair of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, agreed. "This is a tricky one. You don't know if there is a true association or not. There are potential problems with this type of analysis," he said.

But, Sacco pointed out, there is evidence accumulating on the relationship between Alzheimer's, another neurodegenerative disease, and circulatory system problems.

More information

Learn more about Parkinson's at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.