ArticleOphthalmology science2026
Protective Role of Metformin in Glaucoma: Prospective Cohort Study, Meta-Analysis, and Drug-Target Mendelian Randomization.
Article in Ophthalmology science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Beyond intraocular pressure: vascular and metabolic modifiers of optic nerve vulnerability in glaucoma.International ophthalmology · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: Preclinical studies suggested that metformin use may protect against glaucoma through multiple mechanisms, while observational studies reported mixed results. To clarify this association, we conducted a prospective cohort study, a meta-analysis, and a drug-target Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Design: A prospective cohort study, meta-analysis, and drug-target MR analysis. Participants: The cohort analysis included 24 206 UK Biobank participants with diabetes who were free of glaucoma at baseline. Methods: In the UK Biobank, we examined the association between metformin use and incident glaucoma using multivariable Cox regression. A random-effect meta-analysis was performed to synthesize existing evidence on the association between metformin and glaucoma from human studies. For drug-target MR, genetic variants close to 5 metformin targets genes were weighted by their genetic association with glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) to proxy their therapeutic effects. The genome-wide association study summary data for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) was sourced from the International Glaucoma Genetics Consortium, including only individuals of European ancestry. The drug-target MR analysis was performed using the generalized least squares-inverse variance weighted model. Main Outcome Measures: Incident glaucoma in UK Biobank, pooled effect estimates from meta-analysis, and MR-derived causal estimates for metformin's effect on POAG. Results: During a mean follow-up of 12.1 ± 2.8 years, 841 glaucoma cases occurred, with an incident rate of 2.87 per 1000 person-years. Metformin use was associated with a 19% lower glaucoma risk (hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.67-0.97; Conclusions: Convergent evidence from cohort, meta-analytic, and genetic analyses supports a possible protective association between metformin use and glaucoma among patients with diabetes. These findings support the need for randomized clinical trials to evaluate metformin's potential as a preventive glaucoma therapy in individuals with diabetes. Financial Disclosures: The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
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