Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of metformin treatment on overall mortality rates in women with endometrial cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been associated with endometrial cancer (EC). In this systematic review and meta-analysis we evaluated the effect of metformin on clinical outcomes in patients with EC and insulin resistance or T2DM.
METHODS: Four research databases were searched for original articles published in all languages up to 30 October 2016. Outcomes of interest were overall mortality (OM), cancer-specific mortality, disease progression, and metastases. We performed a random effect meta-analysis of adjusted effects expressed as hazard ratios (HR); heterogeneity among studies was described with the I2 statistic.
RESULTS: Of the 290 retrieved citations, 6 retrospective cohort studies in women with EC (n=4723) met the inclusion criteria, and 8.9% to 23.8% were treated with metformin; OM data was available from 5 studies. In 4 studies of EC patients (n=4132), metformin use was associated with a significant reduction in OM in comparison with not using metformin (adjusted HR [aHR] 0.64, 95% CI 0.45-0.89, p=0.009). In three studies evaluating patients with EC and T2DM (n=2637), metformin use was associated with a significant reduction in OM (aHR 0.50, 95%CI 0.34-0.74, p=0.0006). There was low to moderate heterogeneity of adjusted effects across studies. There was no information about the effect of metformin on cancer-specific mortality, disease progression, or metastases.
CONCLUSIONS: Metformin treatment is associated with a…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 4,723 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.