Evidence mapPaperPMID 33364804Full record

ReviewDiabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy2020

Effects of Metformin on the Gut Microbiota in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Qi Zhang, Nan Hu

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
108citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
8.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

108 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 171 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Article
  10. Gut-brain axis in health and brain disease.Chinese medical journal · 2026
    Review
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Potential Noninvasive Biomarkers to Assess the Aging Process.Expert reviews in molecular medicine · 2025
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Qi ZhangDepartment of Pharmacy, Changzhou No.7 People's Hospital, Changzhou 213000, People's Republic of China.
Nan HuDepartment of Pharmacy, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou 213000, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0002-7505-5001
Changzhou No.2 People's Hospital · CNSoochow University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Metformin is a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); however, its underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Gut microbiota affect the development and progression of T2DM. In recent years, an increasing number of studies has focused on the relationship between metformin and gut microbiota, suggesting that metformin might exert part of its hypoglycemic effect through these microbes. However, most of these results were not consistent due to the complex composition of the microbiota, the differences between species, the large variation between individuals, and the differences in experimental design, bringing great obstacle for our better understanding of the effects of metformin on the gut microbiota. Here, we reviewed the published papers concerning about the impacts of metformin on the gut microbiota of mice, rats, and humans with obesity or T2DM, and summarized the changes of gut microbiota composition caused by metformin and the possible underlying hypoglycemic mechanism which is related to gut microbiota. It was found that the proportions of some microbiota, such as phyla Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia and genera

Indexed as

gut microbiotametforminobesitytype 2 diabetes mellitus

Identifiers

PMID33364804
PMCPMC7751595
OpenAlexW3111703679

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.