Trial reportDiabetes care2025
Short-term Metformin Protects Against Glucocorticoid-Induced Toxicity in Healthy Individuals: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Diabetes care, 2025. The graph read 1 number from its abstract, feeding 1 cell of the map: it . Cited by 5 papers, 2 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.
RESULTS: Metformin improved insulin sensitivity as assessed by the Matsuda index (n = 17; mean change -2.73 ± 3.55 SD for placebo, 2.21 ± 3.95 for metformin; mean difference of change -4.94 [95% CI, -7.24, -2.65]; P < 0.001).
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Where it lands on the map
Rows are treatments, columns are outcomes. The coloured squares are the cells this paper feeds, coloured by the vote it casts there. Click one to jump to what this paper adds to it.
What it adds to each cell
For every cell the paper feeds: the belief in the claim with and without this paper, and this paper's estimate drawn against every other readable study in the cell. The ringed dot is this paper.
Metformin×glycemic control
No readable resultOpen on the map →What to test next →40 readable studies in this cell: 41 favour the treatment, 13 find no difference, 7 favour the comparator.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of Metformin in Prevention of Glucocorticoid-Induced Hyperglycemia in Patients Without Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis.Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of metformin on bone turnover markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.Archives of osteoporosis · 2026Pooled it
- Interpretable machine learning reveals metabolomic signatures: biomarkers and mechanisms in acute vs chronic angle-closure glaucoma.BMC biotechnology · 2026Article
- 3. Prevention or Delay of Diabetes and Associated Comorbidities: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2026.Diabetes care · 2026Review
- Metformin and Adipose Tissue: A Multifaceted Regulator in Metabolism, Inflammation, and Regeneration.Endocrinology and metabolism (Seoul, Korea) · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The marked sentences are the ones the graph read a number from.
objectiveGlucocorticoids (GCs) are potent anti-inflammatory drugs, but strategies to prevent side effects are lacking. We investigated whether metformin could prevent GC-related toxicity and explored the underlying mechanisms. RESEARCH DESIGN AND
methodsThis single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial compared metformin with placebo during high-dose GC treatment in 18 lean, healthy, male study participants. The trial was conducted at the University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Participants received prednisone 30 mg/day in combination with metformin or placebo for two 7-day periods (1:1 randomization). The primary outcome, change in insulin sensitivity, was assessed using a two-sided paired t test. Before and after each study period, we conducted a mixed-meal tolerance test, blood metabolomics, and RNA sequencing of subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsy specimens.
resultsMetformin improved insulin sensitivity as assessed by the Matsuda index (n = 17; mean change -2.73 ± 3.55 SD for placebo, 2.21 ± 3.95 for metformin; mean difference of change -4.94 [95% CI, -7.24, -2.65]; P < 0.001). Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that metformin altered fatty acid flux in the blood and downregulated genes involved in fatty acid synthesis in adipose tissue. Metformin reduced markers of protein breakdown and bone resorption. Furthermore, metformin downregulated genes responsible for AMPK inhibition and affected glucagon-like peptide 1 and bile acid metabolism.
conclusionsMetformin prevents GC-induced insulin resistance and reduces markers of dyslipidemia, myopathy, and, possibly, bone resorption through AMPK-dependent and -independent pathways.
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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.