High Blood Urate Levels Linked to Lower Risk of Parkinson's Disease

Marc Weisskopf, Ph.D.
Harvard School of Public Health
NIEHS Grant K01ES012563

A large-scale prospective epidemiologic study investigating the link between plasma urate levels and the risk of Parkinson's disease conducted by NIEHS-funded researchers shows that the higher the urate level, the lower the risk of the progressive neurodegenerative disease.

The researchers used a cohort of more than 18,000 men who were participating in the Harvard-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which began in 1986. Blood samples were drawn between 1993 and 1995, and the subjects' health status has been followed since.

Men with plasma urate concentrations in the top 25 percent exhibited 55 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease over the course of the study than men in the bottom 25 percent. These results mirror those seen in two previous yet smaller studies.

The research team hypothesizes that the antioxidant properties of urate may be the cause of the decreased risk. Oxidative stress is thought to contribute to the progressive loss of dopamine producing neurons in Parkinson's cases. To follow-up on this finding, two of the researchers are collaborating on the design of a clinical trial in Parkinson's disease patients to determine whether elevating levels of urate may slow the progression of the disease.

Citation: Weisskopf MG, O'Reilly E, Chen H, Schwarzschild MA, Ascherio A. 2007. Plasma urate and risk of Parkinson's disease. Am J Epidemiol 166(5):561-567. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17584757&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)