ArticleOral oncology2018
Survival impact and toxicity of metformin in head and neck cancer: An analysis of the SEER-Medicare dataset.
Article in Oral oncology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of metformin on head and neck cancer: an umbrella review.BMC cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Prognostic value of metformin in cancers: An updated meta-analysis based on 80 cohort studies.Medicine · 2022 · on this mapPooled it
- Survival Benefit of Metformin as an Adjuvant Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of metformin on hypoxia-associated gene expression in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma in non-diabetic patients - a prospective window of opportunity study.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Article
- Preventive and Therapeutic Effect of Metformin in Head and Neck Cancer: A Concise Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Prognostic value of diabetes and metformin use in a real-life population of head and neck cancer patients.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Survival impact of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor antagonists in head and neck cancer.Head & neck · 2021Article
- Association of Diabetes with Oral Cancer- an Enigmatic Correlation.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2020Article
- Diabetes and its Potential Impact on Head and Neck Oncogenesis.Journal of Cancer · 2020Review
- Statin use associated with improved overall and cancer specific survival in patients with head and neck cancer.Oral oncology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesRecent preclinical research has renewed interest in the interplay between glucose dysregulation and cancer. Metformin holds promise as an adjunctive antineoplastic agent in head and neck cancer (HNC). We aimed to explore the impact of metformin in HNC patients from a population-based dataset. PATIENTS &
methodsPatients diagnosed with HNC from 2008 to 2011 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked dataset and categorized into three groups: non-diabetics (nD), diabetics not taking metformin (DnM), and diabetics taking metformin (D + M). Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were compared between groups using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression controlling for sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment covariates. The incidence of toxicities associated with HNC therapy was compared among groups using χ
resultsAmong 1646 patients, there were 1144 nD, 378 DnM, and 124 D + M. 2-year OS rates was 65.6% for nD, 57.7% for DnM, and 73.4% for D + M by Kaplan-Meier (p < 0.01), and corresponding rates of 2-year CSS were 73.7%, 66.1%, and 88.8% (p < 0.01), respectively. On Cox multivariable analysis, OS among the three groups did not significantly differ; however, CSS was significantly worse among both nD versus DnM as compared to D + M. Toxicity rates were not significantly increased among D + M.
conclusionHNC patients with diabetes taking metformin experience improved CSS. Prospective investigation of the addition of metformin to standard-of-care HNC therapy is warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.