Washington: An ibuprofen a day can keep
Parkinson`s disease at bay, say researchers.
A new study, by Harvard School of Public Health in
Boston, has found that people who regularly take the medicine
may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson`s disease.
The research involved 136,474 people who did not have
Parkinson`s disease at the beginning of the research.
Participants were asked about their use of non-steroid
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin, ibuprofen
and acetaminophen.
After six years, 293 participants had developed
Parkinson`s disease. The study found that the regular users of
ibuprofen were 40 per cent less likely to develop Parkinson`s
disease than people who didn`t take ibuprofen.
Also, people who took higher amounts of ibuprofen
were less likely to develop Parkinson`s disease than people
who took smaller amounts of the drug. The results were the
same regardless of age, smoking and caffeine intake.
"Ibuprofen was the only NSAID linked to a lower risk
of Parkinson`s. Other NSAIDs and analgesics, including aspirin
and acetaminophen didn`t appear to have any effect on lowering
a person`s risk of developing Parkinson`s.
"More research is needed as to how and why ibuprofen
appears to reduce the risk of Parkinson`s disease, which
affects up to one million people in the United States," lead
researcher Xiang Gao said.
The findings are to be presented at the American
Academy of Neurology`s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto from
April 10 to April 17 this year.
PTI
