Certain Prostate Drugs Tied to Risk for Parkinson Disease

THURSDAY, Feb. 18, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Users of terazosin, doxazosin, or alfuzosin are at lower risk for developing Parkinson disease (PD) compared with users of tamsulosin, according to a study published online Feb. 1 in JAMA Neurology.

Jacob E. Simmering, Ph.D., from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and colleagues assessed whether use of terazosin, doxazosin, and alfuzosin is associated with a decreased risk for developing PD versus use of tamsulosin. The analysis included 52,365 propensity score-matched pairs of terazosin/doxazosin/alfuzosin users and tamsulosin users identified in Danish registries and 94,883 propensity score-matched pairs identified in the U.S. Truven database.

Patients in the Danish cohort who used terazosin/doxazosin/alfuzosin had a lower risk for developing PD (hazard ratio [HR], 0.88; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.81 to 0.98), as did patients in the Truven cohort (HR, 0.63; 95 percent CI, 0.58 to 0.69). A dose-response association was detected, with greater risk reduction tied to longer use of terazosin/doxazosin/alfuzosin in the Danish cohort (short-term use: HR, 0.95; 95 percent CI, 0.84 to 1.07; medium-term use: HR, 0.88; 95 percent CI, 0.77 to 1.01; long-term use: HR, 0.79; 95 percent CI, 0.66 to 0.95) and in the Truven cohort (short-term use: HR, 0.70; 95 percent CI, 0.64 to 0.76; medium-term use: HR, 0.58; 95 percent CI, 0.52 to 0.64; long-term use: HR, 0.46; 95 percent CI, 0.36 to 0.57).

“Despite the relative differences in population and health care system structure, we found a similar protective effect in both countries,” Simmering said in a statement. “The replication of the finding in an international cohort is powerful evidence suggesting a causal effect.”

Abstract/Full Text