ArticleAmerican journal of respiratory and critical care medicine2015
Survival of patients with stage IV lung cancer with diabetes treated with metformin.
Article in American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 137 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of metformin on lung cancer survival: the first systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomized clinical trials.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2021Pooled it
- The addition of metformin to systemic anticancer therapy in advanced or metastatic cancers: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.International journal of medical sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Effect of hypoglycemic agents on survival outcomes of lung cancer patients with diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis.Medicine · 2018 · on this mapPooled it
- Metformin therapy associated with survival benefit in lung cancer patients with diabetes.Oncotarget · 2016 · on this mapPooled it
- Effects of metformin on survival outcomes of lung cancer patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2016Pooled it
- A Randomized Phase II Study of Metformin plus Paclitaxel/Carboplatin/Bevacizumab in Patients with Chemotherapy-Naïve Advanced or Metastatic Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.The oncologist · 2018Trial
- Metformin as a repurposed therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): results of a phase II trial.Investigational new drugs · 2017Trial
- Body mass index and fasting insulin predict survival and EGFR-TKI benefit in Stage IV lung adenocarcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Altered Pulmonary Glucose Transport Is Restored by Metformin Treatment in an Obese Type 2 Diabetic Animal Model.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Obesity-specific improvement of lung cancer outcomes and immunotherapy efficacy with metformin.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2025Article
- Efficacy of three modern anti-diabetic drugs on survival outcomes of lung cancer patients with type 2 diabetes in China.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Effects of Hypoglycemic Agents on Pulmonary Diseases: A Comprehensive Narrative Review.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Review
- Glycemic control in diabetic patients improved overall lung cancer survival across diverse populations.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2024Article
- Review
- Metformin suppresses NFE2L1 pathway activation to inhibit gap junction beta protein expression in NSCLC.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Low BMI patients with advancedChinese medical journal pulmonary and critical care medicine · 2023Article
- Drug Repurposing in Oncology: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials.Cancers · 2023Review
- Phosphorylation of PHF2 by AMPK releases the repressive H3K9me2 and inhibits cancer metastasis.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Article
- Clinical and sociodemographic risk factors associated with the development of second primary cancers among postmenopausal breast cancer survivors.Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2023Article
- Action Mechanism of Metformin and Its Application in Hematological Malignancy Treatments: A Review.Biomolecules · 2023Review
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationalePrior studies have shown an anticancer effect of metformin in patients with breast and colorectal cancer. It is unclear, however, whether metformin has a mortality benefit in lung cancer.
objectivesTo compare overall survival of patients with diabetes with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) taking metformin versus those not on metformin.
methodsUsing data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry linked to Medicare claims, we identified 750 patients with diabetes 65-80 years of age diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC between 2007 and 2009. We used propensity score methods to assess the association of metformin use with overall survival while controlling for potential confounders. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
resultsOverall, 61% of patients were on metformin at the time of lung cancer diagnosis. Median survival in the metformin group was 5 months, compared with 3 months in patients not treated with metformin (P < 0.001). Propensity score analyses showed that metformin use was associated with a statistically significant improvement in survival (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.89), after controlling for sociodemographics, diabetes severity, other diabetes medications, cancer characteristics, and treatment.
conclusionsMetformin is associated with improved survival among patients with diabetes with stage IV NSCLC, suggesting a potential anticancer effect. Further research should evaluate plausible biologic mechanisms and test the effect of metformin in prospective clinical trials.
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