Widely used diabetes drug may offer unexpected health benefit
Now, new research suggests the widely prescribed drug may offer benefits beyond blood sugar control.
Key points
- Researchers noted that the drug may help regulate a biological pathway involved in blood pressure and fluid balance that influences the severity of COVID-19.
- DIABETES DRUG COULD SLASH RISK OF FATAL HEART CONDITION IN ONE GROUP, SCIENTISTS REVEAL To assess the impact on long-term survival, the team analyzed U.S.
- Researchers at Stanford University found that adults with type 2 diabetes who were taking metformin before catching COVID-19 had a 39% lower risk of dying in the year following their infection than patients taking a different type of diabetes medication.
All patients were between 30 and 85 years old and had been prescribed either metformin or another diabetes drug, known as dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP4i), at least a month before their diagnosis.
POPULAR WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS MAY PREVENT PREDIABETES FROM TURNING INTO DIABETES High blood sugar can weaken immune defenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Additional details
- DPP-4 inhibitors usually come later, or go to people who cannot take metformin, often because they are older or have kidney disease or other health problems," Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D., a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St.
- CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES The new analysis aligns with other recent research, including a study from the University of Minnesota Medical School that showed patients who were prescribed metformin within six days of a COVID-19 diagnosis were less likely to die or develop long COVID.
- "There is some evidence from the same group that metformin, started early in a COVID infection, may lower the risk of long COVID, [but] that still needs to be confirmed in large, well-designed randomized trials," Al-Aly noted.
- "People take a DPP-4 inhibitor because they need it to control their diabetes, usually because metformin was not enough or was not an option for them." "No doctor is choosing between these two drugs for the same patient.
- "Metformin is the first drug most people with type 2 diabetes are given.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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