Metformin in the news

Researchers have found that people taking metformin for type 2 diabetes are less likely to be hospitalized or die due to pneumonia than those taking other glucose-lowering medications.

Real-world study results suggest that people with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin monotherapy have worse clinical outcomes than those given combination treatment with insulin and other antidiabetic drugs.

The latest report from the CORONADO study reveals factors predictive of home discharge within 28 days among people with diabetes hospitalized with COVID-19, as well as those linked to mortality risk.

An observational study suggests that prior metformin use may offer a protective effect against COVID-19 mortality in people with type 2 diabetes, but only for women.

Results from an observational study suggest that the use of metformin in older patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with a reduced decline in both global cognition and executive function, and a decreased risk for dementia.

Metformin consistently causes an early reduction in hemoglobin and increases the risk for moderate anemia in patients with type 2 diabetes, a MASTERMIND consortium analysis shows.

A wide-ranging network meta-analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reveals critical knowledge gaps in the use of glucose-lowering medications in people with type 2 diabetes.

Among the latest findings from the DPP Outcomes Study is that long-term use of metformin does not affect the risk for cancer.

Metformin does not reduce uric acid levels or inflammation in gout patients with comorbid diabetes, research suggests.

People with type 2 diabetes who are treated with metformin prior to undergoing major surgical interventions may have better postoperative outcomes than those without exposure to the drug, researchers report.

Observational study results suggest that metformin use is associated with a reduced risk for mortality and progression to end-stage renal disease, and does not increase the risk for lactic acidosis, among people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

An umbrella review of meta-analyses has demonstrated mixed associations between different glucose-lowering agents and cardiovascular outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes, with the results favoring sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists as cardioprotective agents.

The reduced prostate cancer risk seen in men with diabetes may be partly explained by detection bias due to a lower biopsy rate following an elevated prostate-specific antigen test result, population-based study data show.

Study results suggest that prolonged use of metformin by people with type 2 diabetes may reduce their risk for being hospitalized with heart failure.

Adding the DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin to first-line metformin therapy may delay the need for exogenous insulin among people with type 2 diabetes, researchers report.

Research published in JAMA supports a beneficial cardiovascular safety profile for metformin relative to sulfonylureas in people with mild or moderate kidney dysfunction.

Upfront combination therapy with vildagliptin and metformin is more durable than metformin alone, and appears to have a legacy effect, report the VERIFY investigators.

Findings from the SAVOR-TIMI 53 trial suggest that metformin treatment reduces cardiovascular and all-cause mortality but not nonfatal cardiovascular disease events, but a meta-analysis points to wider benefits.

Second-line therapy choices for people with type 2 diabetes vary widely throughout the world and are influenced not only by clinical characteristics but also non-medical factors such as affordability and availability, results from the DISCOVER study show.

Intensive antidiabetic treatment in adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes slows the decline in beta-cell function, but this is not sustained after the treatment is stopped, show the results of the RISE adult medication study.