Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38536446›Full record

ArticleOsteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA2024

Metformin treatment reduces the incidence of osteoporosis: a two-sample Mendelian randomized study.

Yaotian Cai, Gao Jun, Xiaojie Zhuang

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
9.4field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
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

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Interaction between diabetes and osteoporosis: imbalance between inflammation and bone remodeling.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025
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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

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Yaotian CaiChangzhou Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Affiliated to Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 25 North Heping Road, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China.
Gao JunChangzhou Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Affiliated to Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 25 North Heping Road, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China. gaojungk@126.com.
Xiaojie ZhuangChangzhou Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Affiliated to Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 25 North Heping Road, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu, China.
Nanjing University · CN

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province BK20211066Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province SJCX23_0964
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It remains unclear whether the association between metformin and osteoporosis (OP) risk is causal. This two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study suggests a causal relationship between metformin treatment and a decrease in OP and fracture incidence, as well as an increase in bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and heel. Nonetheless, no significant causal effect is observed on forearm BMD. PURPOSE: We utilize a MR approach to investigate the association between metformin treatment and the risk of OP.

methodsMetformin treatment was selected as exposures. Outcomes included OP; BMD at the forearm (FA), femoral neck (FN), and lumbar spine (LS); estimated heel bone mineral density (eBMD); and fracture. Summary statistics for exposures and outcomes were obtained from corresponding genome-wide association studies. Inverse variance-weighted (IVW) analysis was mainly applied; the weighted median (WM), penalized weighted median (PWM), maximum likelihood (ML), and MR-Egger regression (MR-Egger) method were also used to obtain robust estimates. A series of sensitivity analyses including Cochran's Q test, MR-Egger regression, leave-one-out analysis, and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) were used to detect pleiotropy or heterogeneity.

resultsIn the main analysis, IVW estimates demonstrated that metformin treatment had a definite causal effect on the risk of OP (odds ratio (OR): 0.859, 95% CI: 0.774-0.953, P = 0.004), LS-BMD (OR: 1.063, 95% CI: 1.023-1.105, P = 0.002), FN-BMD (OR: 1.034, 95% CI: 1.000-1.069, P = 0.049), eBMD (OR: 1.035, 95% CI: 1.023-1.047, P ≤ 0.001), and fracture(OR: 0.958, 95% CI: 0.928-0.989, P = 0.008). However, it did not have an effect on FA-BMD(OR: 1.050, 95% CI: 0.969-1.138, P = 0.237).

conclusionsThis study indicated that metformin treatment is significantly associated with a reduction in the risk of OP, fracture and higher LS-BMD, FN-BMD, and eBMD. However, there was no significant association with FA-BMD.

Indexed as

Bone DensityHypoglycemic AgentsMendelian Randomization AnalysisMetforminOsteoporosisOsteoporotic FracturesDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Femur NeckGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansIncidenceLumbar VertebraePolymorphism, Single NucleotideHypoglycemic AgentsMetforminBone mineral densityMendelian randomizationMetforminOsteoporosis

Identifiers

PMID38536446
PMCPMC11136748
OpenAlexW4393227865

What OpenQuestion holds

Texttitle and abstract
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

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.