Evidence Hub

Exenatide, Metformin, or Both for Prediabetes in PCOS: A Randomized, Open-label, Parallel-group Controlled Study

Tao T, Zhang Y, Zhu YC, Fu JR, Wang YY, Cai J, Ma JY, Xu Y et al.

The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2021

Abstract

CONTEXT: Up to 40% of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have prediabetes; an optimal pharmacotherapy regimen for diabetes prevention in PCOS is yet to be established.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical efficacy of exenatide (EX), metformin (MET), or combination (COM) for prediabetes in PCOS.

DESIGN: Randomized, open-label, parallel-group controlled trial.

SETTING: Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine.

PATIENTS: PCOS with prediabetes (fasting plasma glucose 5.6-6.9 mmol/L and/or 2 hour post glucose 7.8-11.0 mmol/L on oral glucose tolerance test [OGTT]). A total of 150 out of 183 eligible enrollees completed the study.

INTERVENTION: EX (10-20μg daily), MET (1500-2000 mg daily), or COM (EX plus MET) for 12 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sustained remission rate of prediabetes (primary endpoint, a normal OGTT after 12 weeks of treatment followed by 12 weeks of washout on no drug treatment) along with anthropometric, hormonal, metabolic, and pancreatic β-cell function parameters (secondary endpoints) and potential mechanisms were assessed.

RESULTS: Impaired glucose tolerance was found the dominant prediabetes phenotype. Overall sustained prediabetes remission rate was 50.7%. Remission rate of COM group (64%, 32/50) or EX group (56%, 28/50) was significantly higher than that of the MET group (32%, 16/50) (P = .003 and .027, respectively). EX was associated with superior suppression of 2-hour glucose increment in OGTT. A 2-step…

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.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

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.

Open this study Sign up free