Metformin improves blood lipid pattern in nondiabetic patients with coronary heart disease
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To study whether the addition of metformin further improves the blood lipid pattern in non-diabetic patients with coronary heart disease already treated with lovastatin, diet and lifestyle advice.
DESIGN: An open, prospective, randomized study in a university hospital setting.
SUBJECTS: Sixty non-diabetic male patients previously treated with coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty and with serum cholesterol > or = 6.0 mmol L-1 and/or HDL-cholesterol < or = 1.2 mmol L-1.
INTERVENTIONS: After a 4-week run-in period with lovastatin (40 mg day-1), and diet and lifestyle advice, patients were randomized into two groups, both continuing the run in treatment. One group received metformin up to 2000 mg day-1; the control group got no additional treatment.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fasting serum lipids, glucose and weight were registered at entrance (= week-4), and at weeks 0, 4 and 12. Changes from week 0 to week 4 and from week 0 to week 12 were compared. Side-effects of the treatment were also registered.
RESULTS: Metformin lowered the LDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio by 12 and 6% at weeks 4 and 12, respectively, and reduced body weight by 1.8 kg at week 12. There was also a transient lowering effect on LDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. In the normal weight subgroup of patients (body mass index 27 kg m-2), metformin had no significant effects on blood lipids, but induced a weight loss of -3.0 kg and a transient reduction of fasting glucose. No side-effects were…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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.