Scientists from Harvard School of Public Health have reported that over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen are beneficial as they can lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease.
The study had tracked participants who took daily one ibuprofen tablet, men and women, for over the period of 8.5 yrs. These people seemed to have a 38% less chance of having Parkinson’s disease than the people who did not take the drug.There were no such association found between Parkinson’s and other drugs like aspirin or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
The study suggests that one of the reasons of Parkinson’s disease may be neuro-inflammation of the brain cells and hence non-aspirin based anti-inflammatory drugs may be successful in lowering the incidence of the disease. But scientists are yet to explain why the result is so strong for the case of ibuprofen only. Researchers are of the opinion that this is one area that needs to be studied in detail before ibuprofen can be prescribed as a preventive measure.
The study was presented in the American Academy of Neurology 57th Annual Meeting this year.
