SynthesisClinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico2021
The effect of metformin on esophageal cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta‑analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico, 2021. The graph read 2 numbers from its abstract, feeding 1 cell of the map, but none could be read as for or against, so it casts no vote. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The analysis showed that metformin could not reduce esophageal cancer risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.60-1.28, P > 0.05).
Subgroup analyses by geographic location showed that metformin significantly reduced esophageal cancer risk in Asian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39-0.91, P = 0.02), without heterogeneity between studies (P = 0.80 and I CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that metformin does not reduce esophageal cancer risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.
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What it adds to each cell
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Metformin×adverse events & safety
No readable resultOpen on the map →What to test next →22 readable studies in this cell: 9 favour the treatment, 8 find no difference, 5 favour the comparator.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of metformin use with risk and survival outcome of esophageal cancer in patients with diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025 · on this mapPooled it
- Diabetes Driven Oncogenesis and Anticancer Potential of Repurposed Antidiabetic Drug: A Systemic Review.Cell biochemistry and biophysics · 2024Pooled it
- SGLT-2i and Risk of Malignancy in Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Frontiers in public health · 2021Pooled it
- Metformin as a Multifaceted Therapeutic Agent for Gastrointestinal Diseases: Mechanisms, Clinical Efficacy, and Future Directions.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2026Review
- Metformin in gastrointestinal cancers and inflammatory bowel disease: Unraveling its mechanisms and therapeutic applications.iScience · 2026Review
- Metformin in Esophageal Carcinoma: Exploring Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Insights.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- A machine learning prediction model for cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes based on clinical tests.Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The marked sentences are the ones the graph read a number from.
objectiveRecently, numerous studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the effect of metformin on esophageal cancer risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. The purpose of this study is to systematically assess this effect using meta-analysis.
methodsWe searched clinical studies on metformin and esophageal cancer risk in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. After literature screening, a series of meta-analyses were conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as the effect size.
resultsFive eligible studies (four cohort studies and one case-control study) were included for our meta-analysis using a random-effect model. The analysis showed that metformin could not reduce esophageal cancer risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.60-1.28, P > 0.05). Subgroup analyses by geographic location showed that metformin significantly reduced esophageal cancer risk in Asian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39-0.91, P = 0.02), without heterogeneity between studies (P = 0.80 and I
conclusionsOverall, our systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that metformin does not reduce esophageal cancer risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. However, a significant reduction in esophageal cancer risk in Asian populations remains to be clarified.
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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.