Ibuprofen May Prevent Parkinson’s

Adults who regularly take ibuprofen have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease relative to non-users, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The researchers concluded that adults who regularly take ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, two or more times a week have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of developing the neurodegenerative disease than those who do not.

The findings suggest that the inexpensive over-the-counter drug could potentially protect neurons from degeneration, said lead author Xiang Gao, an instructor in  medicine at HSPH.

But Gao added that the researchers do not recommend that people start taking more Ibuprofen-containing drugs, such as Advil or Motrin.

“As our study is an observational study, we cannot make [conclusions] of causality,” Gao said.

Ibuprofen could also be beneficial for individuals with early stage Parkinson’s Disease, said senior author Alberto Ascherio, an epidemiology professor at HSPH.

But he said the results of the study do not indicate that patients with Parkinson’s should begin to take more Ibuprofen, which can have side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding.

“We do not recommend that anyone should take ibuprofen for the prevention or treatment of PD, except as part of a rigorously conducted clinical trial,” said Ascherio.

The researchers analyzed data on disease incidence using two long-term epidemiological studies: the Nurses’ Health Study, which has tracked the health of more than 100,000 registered nurses, and the Health Professional Follow-Up Study, which has followed more than 50,000 male health professionals.

The study did not find protective effects of aspirin or other NSID drugs against the risk of Parkinson’s disease, said Gao.

Gao said the next step for the researchers is to investigate the effect of Ibuprofen on patients with Parkinson’s disease, particularly with an eye to understanding whether a causal relationship exists.

“Future studies should investigate whether Ibuprofen can slow disease progression among people with Parkinson’s disease,” said Gao.

The study was published online on Wednesday in the journal Neurobiology and is scheduled to be published in the print issue on March 8.

—Staff writer Melanie A. Guzman can be reached at melanieguzman@college.harvard.edu.