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Clinical Summary

Metformin linked to fewer heart failure hospitalisation in patients with diabetes

Takeaway

  • Even with propensity matching, metformin ever-use in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with a dose-dependent reduced risk of hospitalisation for heart failure (H[HF]) vs metformin never-users.
  • Metformin should always be considered first-line treatment for T2D.  

Why this matters

  • Evidence suggests metformin is underprescribed in patients with HF.

Study design

  • Population-based retrospective cohort study using Taiwan’s nationwide administrative database of newly diagnosed patients with T2D during 1999-2005, including unmatched 172,542 metformin ever-users vs 43,744 never-users and propensity score-matched pairs of 41,714 each of users and never-users, with follow-up through 2011.
  • Funding: Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology, National Science Council, Yee Fong Charity Foundation.

Key results

  • Incidences of HHF for ever- vs never-users:
    • Unmatched cohort: 304.15 vs 864.31 per 100,000 person-years (HR, 0.350; P<.0001); 
    • Matched cohort: 469.66 vs 817.01 per 100,000 person-years (HR, 0.571; P<.0001).  
  • Results showed consistent dose-responsive reduction in HHF risk with metformin use, especially with cumulative therapy duration >2.5 years.
  • In propensity score-matched cohort created by excluding 10 potential instrumental variables, ever- vs never-users still had significantly lower risk (HR, 0.619; P<.0001).

Limitations

  • Potential residual confounders.
  • Retrospective data.
  • Cannot use placebo with gold-standard T2D drug.

References


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