Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Several studies have explored the impact of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the hazard of Parkinson's ailment. However, the extent to which NSAID increases or reduces the hazard of PD remains unresolved. Aim: This work aims to determine the effect of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) on increasing the risk of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed over different medical databases to identify Neurology studies, which studied the outcome of NSAIDs users versus Non-user patients. Using the meta-analysis process, either with fixed or random-effects models, we conducted a meta-analysis on the overall prevalence of Parkinson's disease as a primary outcome, and on the effect of type of NSAIDs (Aspirin or NSAID) on the prevalence of Parkinson's disease as secondary outcomes. Results: Five studies were identified involving 265919 patients, with 67502 patients in NSAIDs users, and 198417 patients were Non-users. The meta-analysis process revealed that the overall pooled prevalence of PD=6.6%. The meta-analysis process revealed a highly significant increase in the prevalence of PD in Aspirin users compared to Non-users (p=0.004), and a non-significant difference in the prevalence of PD in NSAIDs users compared to Non-users (p>0.05). Conclusion: To conclude, despite the neuroprotective potential of NSAIDs demonstrate in some experimental studies, our findings suggest that there is no association between NSAIDs and the risk of Parkinson's disease at the population level.