Statin use and delayed onset of Huntington's disease

Abstract

Background: There is evidence to suggest that 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) may be beneficial in Huntington's disease (HD). Objective: This study aimed to determine if statin use was associated with delayed motor diagnosis in participants with premotor HD. Methods: Among premotor HD participants from the Enroll-HD database, statin users were propensity score matched with statin nonusers based on cytosine-adenine-guanine–age product score, cytosine-adenine-guanine repeat length, baseline age, sex, and region. A Cox regression survival analysis compared the annualized hazard ratio (HR) of receiving a motor diagnosis between the 2 groups. Results: The annualized HR of progressing to an HD motor diagnosis was lower in the statin users (n = 89) when compared with the statin nonusers (n = 89; HR = 0.27 [95% CI 0.18-0.50], P