Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Parkinson's disease: Cognition
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: To evaluate the effect of statin (HMG CoA reductase inhibitor) use on 1) baseline cognition; 2) rate of cognitive decline; and 3) conversion from normal cognition (NC) to cognitive impairment (either mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia (PDD) in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: PD patients are at high risk of developing cognitive impairment. Research in Alzheimer’s disease has suggested that statins can have a protective effect on cognition. However, little is known about the association between statin use and cognition in PD.
Methods: Neuropsychological tests, medication logs, and ratings of functional abilities were collected from 306 PD patients followed longitudinally (annually for four years and biennially thereafter). Patients were divided into current statin users and non-statin users, while excluding those who began taking and then ceased taking statins. All patients were diagnosed as NC, MCI or PDD per an expert consensus panel after each visit based on MDS recommended criteria.
Results: At baseline, statin users (SU)(N=124) were older (t(289)=-2.28, p=0.02), more likely to be male (Pearson chi2, p=.04) and had a longer PD duration than non-statin users (NSU)(N=182) (t(295)=2.86, p=0.005). Controlling for these variables, SU had better global cognition (DRS-2 t(305)=2.33, p=0.02, mean= (SU 135.3)(NSU 134.0); MoCA t(126)=1.97, p=0.05, mean=(SU 25.5)(NSU 25.2)) than NSU. In addition, SU performed significantly better on the clock drawing task (t(285)=2.34, p=0.02), and both semantic and phonemic fluency (t(264)=2.20,/ p=0.004; t(227)=2.87,, p=0.03). Linear mixed-effects model found no difference in rate of decline between SU and NSU (DRS-2 t(426)=-.929, p=.354; MoCA t(182)=-.690, p=.491). Cox regression showed no significant difference of conversion rates of NC to cognitive impairment between SU and NSU.
Conclusions: Although statin use is associated with better performance on measures of global cognition, visuo-spatial tasks, and semantic/phonemic fluency on cross-sectional analysis, there was no observed longitudinal benefit. Additional randomized studies will help determine if statin use truly has a cognitive protective effect in PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
B.L. Deck, J. Rick, S.X. Xie, A. Chen-Plotkin, J.E. Duda, J.F. Morley, L.M. Chahine, N. Dahodwala, R.S. Akhtar, J.Q. Trojanowski, D. Weintraub. The effect of statin use on cognition in Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-statin-use-on-cognition-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-statin-use-on-cognition-in-parkinsons-disease/