A class of drugs used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia may help reduce a broad range of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, international researchers say.

The Chinese-led research focused on the drug terazosin, which is not registered in Australia, but the authors say the effects appear similar with closely related drugs doxazosin and alfuzosin, which are on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.

Some 2880 people diagnosed with Parkinson’s and comorbid benign prostatic hyperplasia and taking one of these three drugs for their prostate had a 22% lower risk of Parkinson’s symptoms than a comparison group of 15,400 Parkinson’s patients who were taking tamsulosin for their prostate, data from the large Watson IBM/Truven patient database showed.

And the findings were replicated across a wide range of symptoms.