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Longevity supplements › Metformin and Aging › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

10.7-year trial in 753 overweight adults with diabetes: metformin lowered risk of death

Unknown · Lancet (London, England) · 1998

Original title: Effect of intensive blood-glucose control with metformin on complications in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes (UKPDS 34). UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Group.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Metformin group had risk reductions of 32% (95% CI 13-47, p=0.002) for any diabetes-related endpoint, 42% for diabetes-related death and 36% for all-cause mortality (9-55, p=0.011). Adding metformin to sulphonylurea raised diabetes-related death risk by 96%.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
753 people · Overweight adults with newly found type 2 diabetes, average age 53
What was tested
Metformin aiming for tight blood sugar vs mostly diet alone, median 10.7 years
What it measured
The question itself: aging, frailty and death in people without diabetes
How long
557 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Lancet (London, England), 1998
Source
PubMed record 9742977. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Large: 753 people.
  • ✓Long: about 10.7 years.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: aging, frailty and death in people without diabetes.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: aging and age-related disease

    1

    1 benefit

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    3

    2 no difference, 1 harm

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    6

    2 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    8

    6 benefit, 2 no difference

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    3

    2 benefit, 1 harm

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does metformin slow aging in people without diabetes?”

Not shown in people without diabetes.

Confidence: low. Based on 26 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Few other papers sit on the same step, so there is little to compare it with.

Other papers on the same step

None among the papers we read.

See all 26 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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