Prevalence of Cardiovascular Drugs and Oral Anticoagulant Use among Persons with and without Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases are common among persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD), but it is unknown how the prevalence of cardiovascular drug and oral anticoagulant use changes in relation to PD diagnosis. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We investigated the prevalence of cardiovascular drug and oral anticoagulant use among persons with and without PD among 17,541 persons who received incident PD diagnosis in 2001–2015 in Finland and their 116,829 matched comparison persons. Prevalence was calculated in 6-month time windows from 5 years before to 5 years after PD diagnosis (index date) and compared to a matched cohort without PD using generalized estimating equations. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Persons with PD had higher prevalence of any cardiovascular drugs (unadjusted OR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.11–1.18) and oral anticoagulants (unadjusted OR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.11–1.22) before index date than those without PD. After index date, persons with PD had lower prevalence of cardiovascular drugs (0.94; 95% CI: 0.91–0.96), and no difference was observed for oral anticoagulants. Prevalence of any cardiovascular drugs on the index date was 66 and 61% for persons with and without PD, respectively. β-blockers were the most common cardiovascular drugs in both cohorts. Warfarin was the most common oral anticoagulant, but the use of direct oral anticoagulants increased during the last years of follow-up. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Orthostatic hypotension and weight loss likely explain the decreased cardiovascular drug use after PD diagnosis. Results with oral anticoagulants may reflect clinical assessment of benefits being larger than risks, despite the risks associated with their use in persons with PD.