Metformin's Effects Upon Atherosclerosis for Type 2's

The objective of this study was to investigate the preventive action of metformin for atherosclerosis (AS) in patients with Type 2 diabetes. A total of 140 cases with T2DM were assigned to 2 groups taking metformin (n = 75) or not (n = 65). All cases received intensive control of blood glucose, blood pressure and blood lipids for 100 weeks. The data before and after intensive control were recorded and statistically analyzed. Common carotid intima-media thickness (CC-IMT) was the efficacy endpoint of AS.

The results showed that diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose, post 2-hour blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c, triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) decreased in both groups after intensive metabolic control for 100 weeks (P < 0.05).

Body mass index (BMI), HOMA insulin resistance index and CC-IMT decreased in the metformin group while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased.  BMI kg/m2, HOMA-IR and CC-IMT mm in metformin group were lower than those in non-metformin group at 100 week. CC-IMT was positively correlated with BMI, TC, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and HOMA-IR.

From the results it was concluded that, metformin attenuates CC-IMT of patients with T2DM and it has the primary preventive effect upon AS in patients with T2DM. 

Meta-analysis, department of Endocrinology, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, China.