High urate levels protect against PD raising new treatment hope

High levels of urate predispose to gout, one of the most exquisitely painful conditions. On the other hand, new research suggests that higher urate concentrations reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD), in men at least. The study raises the prospect of new treatments for this debilitating disease.

Researchers matched 202 men and 186 women who developed PD with 1267 controls from 90,214 participants in three ongoing studies. They adjusted for, among other confounders, age, smoking, caffeine intake, plasma concentrations of cholesterol and ferritin, and divided participants into four groups (quartiles) based on blood urate level.

Men in the highest quartile based on urate level were 37% less likely to develop PD than those in the lowest. Men in the middle two quartiles were 24% less likely to develop PD. No statistically significant association between urate levels and PD risk emerged in women. The authors combined these data with those from three previous prospective studies. This meta-analysis also suggested that men in the highest quartile were 37% less likely to develop PD compared to the lowest. Again no association emerged in women. The authors comment that ‘the biological mechanisms underlying such sex specificity remain unclear’.