SynthesisEndocrine2018
The effects of metformin on simple obesity: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Endocrine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05215990 (Efficacy of Metformin for Sputum Conversion in Patients With Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis), which is not on this map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Efficacy of Metformin for Sputum Conversion in Patients With Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metformin Treatment With or Without Mediterranean Diet for the Prevention of Age-Related Diseases in People With Metabolic Syndrome: The MeMeMe Randomized Trial.Diabetes care · 2025Trial
- Metformin as adjuvant therapy in obese knee osteoarthritis patients.Inflammopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Effect of acupoint catgut embedding for simple obesity in adults: A randomized controlled double-blind trial.Integrative medicine research · 2025Article
- Impact of immediate-release versus extended-release metformin on lipid profile and body measurements in Saudi patients with type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study.The Pan African medical journal · 2025Article
- Brown and Beige Adipose Tissue: One or Different Targets for Treatment of Obesity and Obesity-Related Metabolic Disorders?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Anti-obesity and metabolic benefits of metformin: Comparison of different delivery routes.Journal of drug delivery science and technology · 2024Article
- Metformin: update on mechanisms of action and repurposing potential.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2023Review
- Weight-centric treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.Obesity pillars · 2022Review
- The Potential to Fight Obesity with Adipogenesis Modulating Compounds.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Metformin-induced increases in GDF15 are important for suppressing appetite and promoting weight loss.Nature metabolism · 2019Article
- Article
- High Glucose Represses the Anti-Proliferative and Pro-Apoptotic Effect of Metformin in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells.Biomolecules · 2019Article
- The Many Faces of Obesity and Its Influence on Breast Cancer Risk.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Review
- Polyglycolic acid sutures embedded in abdominal acupoints for treatment of simple obesity in adults: a randomized control trial.Chinese medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of metformin versus a placebo in the treatment of patients with simple obesity without obesity related diseases.
methodsA search was done on Pub-Med, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Science Citation Index Expanded databases. The main inclusion criteria included the following:(1) randomized controlled trials. (2) patients diagnosed as being overweight or obese. (3) patients were randomly assigned to receive metformin or control. Exclusion criteria included the following: patients diagnosed with an obesity related disease, such as diabetes mellitus (DM) or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
resultsCompared with the placebo, weighted mean difference (WMD) was 2.33 (95% CI 0.31, 4.35) kg higher with metformin (p = 0.02). Compared with the placebo, WMD was 0.57 (95% CI 0.35, 0.79) kg/m² higher with metformin(p < 0.00001). There was no significant difference in the reduction of waist circumference between the metformin group and the control group (p = 0.05). The fasting blood glucose levels were significantly lower in the metformin group than in the control group (p < 0.00001). However, no hypoglycemia was noted in the metformin group or the control group.
conclusionMetformin is effective in reducing body weight of simple obesity patients, and metformin does not induce hypoglycemia as a side effect.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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.