SynthesisDiabetes care2023
Metformin for Treatment of Acute COVID-19: Systematic Review of Clinical Trial Data Against SARS-CoV-2.
Synthesis in Diabetes care, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Thyroid disorders and COVID-19: a comprehensive review of literature.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- The relationship between viral clearance rates and disease progression in early symptomatic COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Pooled it
- Pharmacological evaluation of vitamin D in COVID-19 and long COVID-19: recent studies confirm clinical validation and highlight metformin to improve VDR sensitivity and efficacy.Inflammopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Metformin for Treatment of Acute COVID-19: Systematic Review of Clinical Trial Data Against SARS-CoV-2.Diabetes care · 2023Pooled it
- The length of hospital stay in COVID-19 patients using pre-hospital metformin at a Saudi tertiary hospital: a retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Effect of Metformin on the Risk of Post-COVID-19 Condition Among Individuals With Overweight or Obese: A Population-based Retrospective Cohort Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- Metformin Inhibits Inflammation by Targeting the NLRP3 Inflammasome: Linking NF-κB/NEK7/AMPK Signaling to Mitochondrial Function.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Review
- Direct pharmacological AMPK activation inhibits mucosal SARS-CoV-2 infection by reducing lipid metabolism, restoring autophagy flux and the type I IFN response.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Metformin for covid-19: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.BMJ medicine · 2025Article
- Targeting SIRT1: A Potential Strategy for Combating Severe COVID-19.BioMed research international · 2025Review
- Chemerin Levels in COVID-19 Are More Affected by Underlying Diseases than by the Virus Infection Itself.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Coordination chemistry suggests that independently observed benefits of metformin and ZnBiometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2024Article
- Predictors of readmission and mortality in adults with diabetes or stress hyperglycemia after initial hospitalization for COVID-19.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2024Article
- Serum Adiponectin Predicts COVID-19 Severity.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- View on Metformin: Antidiabetic and Pleiotropic Effects, Pharmacokinetics, Side Effects, and Sex-Related Differences.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Risk of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on Anti-Hyperglycemic Medications.Clinical epidemiology · 2024Article
- Unveiling the potential pleiotropic effects of metformin in treating COVID-19: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObservational and preclinical data suggest metformin may prevent severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes. PURPOSE: We conducted a systematic review of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials of metformin treatment for COVID-19 to determine whether metformin affects clinical or laboratory outcomes in individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and present a structured summary of preclinical data. STUDY SELECTION: Two independent reviewers searched PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, and ClinicalTrials.gov on 1 February 2023 with no date restrictions for trials where investigators randomized adults with COVID-19 to metformin versus control and assessed clinical and/or laboratory outcomes of interest. The Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool was used to assess bias. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers extracted data pertaining to prespecified outcomes of each interest from each included trial. DATA SYNTHESIS: The synthesis plan was developed a priori and was guided by Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) guidelines. Summary tables and narrative synthesis were used (PROSPERO, 2022, CRD42022349896). Three randomized trials met inclusion criteria. In two of the trials investigators found that metformin improved clinical outcomes (prevented need for oxygen and prevented need for acute health care use), and in the third trial a larger portion of adults with diabetes were enrolled but results did show a direction of benefit similar to that of the other trials in the per-protocol group. In the largest trial, subjects were enrolled during the delta and omicron waves and vaccinated individuals were included. The certainty of evidence that metformin prevents health care use due to COVID-19 was moderate per Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Many preclinical studies have shown metformin to be effective against SARS-CoV-2. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include inclusion of only three trials and heterogeneity between trials.
conclusionsFuture trials will help define the role of metformin in COVID-19 treatment guidelines.
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.