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Cardiovascular risk following metformin treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Results from meta-analysis

Zhang K, Yang W, Dai H, Deng Z

Diabetes research and clinical practice, 2020

1,160,254 participants

Abstract

AIM: Pharmacologic therapy for T2DM has proven benefits in terms of reducing elevated blood glucose levels and reducing microvascular complications. However, the impact of metformin on adverse cardiovascular outcomes and cardiovascular mortality is less clear. We carried out this meta-analysis on all published studies to estimate the overall cardiovascular risk following metformin treatment in patients with T2DM.

METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Embase and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases for all articles. The odds ratio (OR) corresponding to the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used to assess the cardiovascular risk following metformin treatment in patients with T2DM. The statistical heterogeneity among studies was assessed with the Q-test and I2 statistics.

RESULTS: We collected 16 studies including 25 comparisons with 1,160,254 patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus and 701,843 patients of T2DM following metformin treatment. Our results found statistical evidence of significantly decreased cardiovascular risk to be associated with following treatment with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.48-0.68) (shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2), both with the mortality (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.34-0.57) and incidence (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.59-0.90).

CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis indicated that following metformin treatment in patients with T2DM was associated with decreased cardiovascular risk, both with the mortality and…

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: 1,160,254 participants or records.

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