Over-the-counter pain medications known as non-steroidal anti-
inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce a person's risk of developing
Parkinson's disease according to a new study.

This is not a new idea. A study published in 2005 showed convincing
evidence that people who took a daily dose of 200 milligrams of
ibuprofen reduced their Parkinson's disease risk substantially. This
new study argues that other NSAIDs may also offer some protection.

The study found regular users of non-aspirin NSAIDs reduced their
risk of Parkinson's disease by as much as 60 percent compared to non-
regular users and non-users. Women who were regular users of aspirin
reduced their risk of Parkinson's disease by 40 percent, especially
among those who regularly used aspirin for more than two years.

"Our findings suggest NSAIDs are protective against Parkinson's
disease, with a particularly strong protective effect among regular
users of non-aspirin NSAIDs, especially those who reported two or
more years of use," said Angelika D. Wahner, Ph.D., with the UCLA
School of Public Health in Los Angeles. "Interestingly, aspirin only
benefited women. It may be that men are taking lower doses of aspirin
for heart problems, while women may be using higher doses for
arthritis or headaches."

In recent years Parkinson's disease experts have seen evidence that
Parkinson's may be caused by an inflammatory process. So anti-
inflammatories may block the inflammation and arrest Parkinson's
disease in some people.

The excess of the protein alpha-synuclein causes inflammation in
people with Parkinson's. Just last month a team of scientists from
St. Louis University implicated a chemical related to alpha-synuclein
called DOPAL as the Parkinson's chain reaction instigator.

Sources:

Annals of Neurology

Neurology