medwireNews: Metformin does not reduce uric acid levels or inflammation in gout patients with comorbid diabetes, research suggests.
As reported in a poster presentation at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress, the retrospective cohort study included 309 patients with gout and diabetes from the Netherlands who started urate-lowering therapy between 2010 and 2018. Of these, 155 were taking metformin and 154 were not. The average patient age was 70.9 years in the metformin group and 75.3 years in the non-metformin group, and baseline serum uric acid (sUA) levels were 0.53 mmol/L and 0.54 mmol/L, respectively.
Frouwke Veenstra (Sint Maartenskliniek, Ubbergen) and team found that rates of gout flare were comparable among patients who were and were not taking metformin, with incidence rates of 3.3 and 2.8 per patient–year, respectively.
Moreover, the proportion of patients reaching target sUA levels (<0.36 mmol/L) was not significantly different in the metformin and control groups, at 57.4% versus 46.1%, and the average allopurinol dose at the time of reaching the sUA target was comparable in the two groups (273 vs 254 mg/day).
These findings indicate that “metformin does not have a clinically relevant added anti-inflammatory or urate-lowering effect,” concluded Veenstra and team.
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