Objective: To investigate the role of antihypertensive drugs, including dihydropyridines, on nigrostriatal dopamine and dementia conversion in Parkinson’s disease

Background: Several experimental and clinical studies suggest that dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers may have a neuroprotective effect against PD.

Method: We classified 476 patients with de novo PD who had undergone dopamine transporter imaging into three groups according to a prior diagnosis of hypertension and use of dihydropyridines: Patients without hypertension (PD-HTN-, n = 331) and patients with hypertension being treated without a dihydropyridine (PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB-, n = 63) or with a dihydropyridine (PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB+), n=82). Dopamine transporter availability at the diagnosis of PD was compared among the PD-HTN-, PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB-, and PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB+ groups using a multivariable linear regression model. In addition, Cox-regression models were used to determine an independent effect of each class of antihypertensive drug on dementia conversion among the groups during the 5.22 ± 2.50 year mean follow-up period.

Results: Regional dopamine transporter availabilities were not significantly different among the groups after controlling for the possible confounding factors. In the multivariable linear regression analysis, any classes of the antihypertensive drugs did not show significant independent effects on the regional dopamine transporter availabilities. Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that the PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB+ group had a lower risk of dementia conversion than the PD-HTN+/DHP-CCB- group (P_log-rank = 0.004). Cox-regression confirmed the independent association between the dihydropyridine use and decreased risk for dementia conversion in overall groups after controlling for the possible confounding factors (hazard ratio = 0.289, p = 0.005)

Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that using dihydropyridines is associated with decreased risk of dementia conversion in PD

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/association-between-dihydropyridines-and-dementia-conversion-in-parkinsons-disease/