Antihypertensive agents and risk of Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dementia: a population-based prospective study (NEDICES).
BACKGROUND
Recent interest in antihypertensive agents, especially calcium channel blockers, has been sparked by the notion that these medications may be neuroprotective. A modest literature, with mixed results, has examined whether these medications might lower the odds or risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) or dementia. There are no data for essential tremor (ET).


OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between antihypertensive use (defined broadly and by individual subclasses) and ET, PD and dementia. For each disorder, we used cross-sectional data (association with prevalent disease) and prospective data (association with incident disease).


METHODS
Prospective population-based study in Spain enrolling 5,278 participants at baseline.


RESULTS
Use of antihypertensive medications (aside from beta-blockers) was similar in prevalent ET cases and controls. Baseline use of antihypertensive agents was not associated with reduced risk of incident ET. Antihypertensive medication use was not associated with prevalent or incident PD. Calcium channel blocker use was marginally reduced in prevalent dementia cases (OR(adjusted) = 0.63, p = 0.06) but was not associated with reduced risk of incident dementia (RR(adjusted) = 1.02, p = 0.95).


CONCLUSIONS
We did not find evidence of a protective effect of antihypertensive medications in these three neurodegenerative disorders.
Louis
Elan D
ED
Department of Neurology, GH Sergievsky Center, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. EDL2@columbia.edu
Benito-León
Julián
J
Bermejo-Pareja
Félix
F
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents
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