Metformin is associated with reduced COVID-19 severity in patients with prediabetes.

Authors

Lauren E Chan
Elena Casiraghi
Bryan Laraway
Ben D Coleman, The Jackson LaboratoryFollow
Hannah Blau, The Jackson LaboratoryFollow
Adnin Zaman
Nomi L Harris
Kenneth Wilkins
Blessy Antony
Michael Gargano, The Jackson LaboratoryFollow
Giorgio Valentini
David Sahner
Melissa Haendel
Peter N Robinson, The Jackson LaboratoryFollow
Carolyn Bramante
Justin Reese

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Publication Title

Diabetes research and clinical practice

Keywords

JGM, Female, Humans, Metformin, Retrospective Studies, COVID-19, Prediabetic State, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Hypoglycemic Agents, Thyroxine

JAX Source

Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022;194:110157.

Volume

194

First Page

110157

ISSN

1872-8227

PMID

36400170

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2022.110157

Abstract

AIMS: Studies suggest that metformin is associated with reduced COVID-19 severity in individuals with diabetes compared to other antihyperglycemics. We assessed if metformin is associated with reduced incidence of severe COVID-19 for patients with prediabetes or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), common diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

METHODS: This observational, retrospective study utilized EHR data from 52 hospitals for COVID-19 patients with PCOS or prediabetes treated with metformin or levothyroxine/ondansetron (controls). After balancing via inverse probability score weighting, associations with COVID-19 severity were assessed by logistic regression.

RESULTS: In the prediabetes cohort, when compared to levothyroxine, metformin was associated with a significantly lower incidence of COVID-19 with "mild-ED" or worse (OR [95% CI]: 0.636, [0.455-0.888]) and "moderate" or worse severity (0.493 [0.339-0.718]). Compared to ondansetron, metformin was associated with lower incidence of "mild-ED" or worse severity (0.039 [0.026-0.057]), "moderate" or worse (0.045 [0.03-0.069]), "severe" or worse (0.183 [0.077-0.431]), and "mortality/hospice" (0.223 [0.071-0.694]). For PCOS, metformin showed no significant differences in severity compared to levothyroxine, but was associated with a significantly lower incidence of "mild-ED" or worse (0.101 [0.061-0.166]), and "moderate" or worse (0.094 [0.049-0.18]) COVID-19 outcome compared to ondansetron.

CONCLUSIONS: Metformin use is associated with less severe COVID-19 in patients with prediabetes or PCOS.

Comments

This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Recommended Citation

Chan L, Casiraghi E, Laraway B, Coleman B, Blau H, Zaman A, Harris N, Wilkins K, Antony B, Gargano M, Valentini G, Sahner D, Haendel M, Robinson P, Bramante C, Reese J. Metformin is associated with reduced COVID-19 severity in patients with prediabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022;194:110157.