pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Relationship between Metformin Consumption and Cancer Risk: An Updated Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses - PubMed

  • ️Sun Jan 01 2023

Review

The Relationship between Metformin Consumption and Cancer Risk: An Updated Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Farid Najafi et al. Int J Prev Med. 2023.

Abstract

Background: Considering that metformin is widely used in the treatment of diabetes, and its protective role against various malignancies, the strength and validity of the available evidence from related systematic reviews and meta-analysis were evaluated.

Methods: Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of science databases, and Google Scholar and manual screening of retrieved references were systematically searched from their inception dates to 24 March 2020 by extracting the effect size (Odds ratios (OR) and relative risk (RR) in each study. To present the forest plot of effect of metformin on each cancer, Stata version 14.2 was used.

Results: This study included 36 meta-analysis studies and 620 original research studies (26 randomized control trials studies and 594 observational studies (cohort, case-control)) covering 15 different cancers. Overall, metformin medication prevented different cancers, including ovarian cancer (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.62,0.93), cervical cancer (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.43, 0.83), endometrial cancer (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.82,1.35), liver cancer (OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.47,0.74), pancreatic cancer (OR = 0.59, 95%CI 0.50,0.69), head and neck cancer (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.61,0.83), stomach cancer (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.26,1.99), colorectal cancer (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.59,0.91), colorectal adenoma cancer (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.65,0.86), colon cancer (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.69,0.91), esophagus cancer (OR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83,0.98), lung cancer (OR = 0.92, CI95%:0.85,0.99), breast cancer (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.84,1.02), prostate cancer (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.85-1.04), and bladder cancer (OR = 0.94 95% CI: 0.64,1.38).

Conclusions: Treatment with metformin can significantly decrease the chance of all cancers with larger preventive effect on hepatocellular carcinoma and smaller preventive effect on lung and breast cancers.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; meta-analysis; metformin; neoplasms; review.

Copyright: © 2023 International Journal of Preventive Medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

Diagram of selection of studies for inclusion in umbrella review

Figure 2
Figure 2

Relationship between metformin use and the risk of cancer worldwide. The midpoint of each segment estimates the odds ratio and length of the segment, showing the 95% confidence interval in each study

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Khazaie H, Najafi F, Hamzeh B, Chehri A, Rahimi-Movaghar A, Amin-Esmaeili M, et al. Cluster analysis of psychiatric profile, its correlates, and using mental health services among the young people aged 15–34: Findings from thefirst phase of Iranian youth cohort in Ravansar. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2018;53:1339–48. - PubMed
    1. Silidis KK, Kasimis JC, Lopez DS, Ntzani EE, Ioannidis JP. Type 2 diabetes andcancer: Umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational studies. BMJ. 2015;350:g7606. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7607. - PubMed
    1. Sun W, Lu J, Wu S, Bi Y, Mu Y, Zhao J, et al. Association of insulin resistance with breast, ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancers in non-diabetic women. Am J Cancer Res. 2016;6:2334–44. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Macaskill P, Walter SD, Irwig L. A comparison of methods to detect publication bias in meta-analysis. Stat Med. 2001;20:641–54. - PubMed
    1. Evans JM, Donnelly LA, Emslie AM-Smith, Alessi DR, Morris AD. Metformin and reduced risk of cancer in diabetic patients. BMJ. 2005;330:1304–5. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources