Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32425881›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in endocrinology2020

Metformin and Its Benefits for Various Diseases.

Ziquan Lv, Yajie Guo

Full text readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 257 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
257citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

257 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  19. Nrf2 signaling pathway and its molecular regulatory mechanism.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B · 2026
    Review
  20. Observational

197 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Ziquan LvDepartment of Molecular Epidemiology, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, China.
Yajie GuoThe Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Metformin is a widely used biguanide drug due to its safety and low cost. It has been used for over 60 years to treat type 2 diabetes at the early stages because of its outstanding ability to decrease plasma glucose levels. Over time, different uses of metformin were discovered, and the benefits of metformin for various diseases and even aging were verified. These diseases include cancers (e.g., breast cancer, endometrial cancer, bone cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma), obesity, liver diseases, cardiovascular disease, and renal diseases. Metformin exerts different effects through different signaling pathways. However, the underlying mechanisms of these different benefits remain to be elucidated. The aim of this review is to provide a brief summary of the benefits of metformin and to discuss the possible underlying mechanisms.

Indexed as

AgingDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2FemaleHumansHypoglycemic AgentsMetforminNeoplasmsSignal TransductionHypoglycemic AgentsMetforminAMPKbenefitsdiseasesmetforminmitochondrial respiratory chain complex I

Identifiers

PMID32425881
PMCPMC7212476

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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 OpenQuestion graph.