Association of antihypertensives and Parkinson's disease in a primary care population matched for underlying diagnosis.

PURPOSE:To examine the association of several antihypertensive medication classes with incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD), taking into account possible underlying conditions. METHODS:In a case-control study based on a large primary care database and including 21,981 PD cases and 21,981 non-PD controls matched for age, sex, and possible treatment indications associations with different antihypertensive medication groups, including diuretics, betablockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-II receptor-blockers and PD were examined. RESULTS:Antihypertensive medications overall were associated with a lower risk of subsequent diagnosis of PD (OR: 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.97), with the negative association most significant for medications acting on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. A positive association with diagnosis of PD was only seen for betablockers and restricted to those with relatively young age and not in those with longer treatment duration. CONCLUSION:When taking into account underlying diagnoses, antihypertensive medications overall were associated with a reduced incidence of PD.