Observational studyAnnals of human genetics2026
Evidence of a Protective Effect of Metformin on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Risk: Insights From an Observational Study and Mendelian Randomisation Analysis Using Putative Metformin Targets.
Observational study in Annals of human genetics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsThere is no proven treatment to prevent the growth or rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). As an aneurysm enlarges over time, the risk of fatal aortic rupture increases. Metformin, a drug usually prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes, has previously been associated with reduced AAA risk in observational studies. Our aim was to assess whether there was a causal association between metformin treatment and AAA using Mendelian randomisation (MR).
methodsLogistic regression analysis was conducted in UK Biobank with 2972 AAA cases and 89,160 propensity-matched controls. In addition, two-sample MR analysis was performed, using a genetic proxy for metformin consisting of variants associated with both gene expression of seven metformin drug targets and decreased glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels. Effect sizes for HbA1c were obtained from within UK Biobank, and for AAA risk from AAAgen, a multi-ancestry meta-GWAS analysis of 39,221 cases and 1,086,107 controls.
resultsWe found evidence of a protective association between self-reported metformin treatment and reduced AAA risk in the observational analysis, OR 0.49 (95% CI: 0.41-0.59, p = 1.5 × 10
conclusionOur observational study found evidence that metformin use reduces the risk of developing AAA. The MR results support this finding, providing evidence that the association may be causal. Clinical trials are warranted to assess the efficacy of metformin to reduce the risk of aneurysm growth and rupture in people with AAA.
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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.