ArticleMedicine2025
Causal association of metformin treatment with diverse immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: A Mendelian randomization analysis.
Article in Medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Back to the Future: Repurposing Metformin, a Metabolically Active Drug, to Treat Mild-to-Moderate Ulcerative Colitis.Metabolites · 2026Review
- Association between inflammatory diseases and connective tissue disorders with atrial fibrillation/flutter.American journal of cardiovascular disease · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Metformin has been shown to possess immune-modulating and anti-inflammatory effects in various animal and clinical studies. It is believed to be effective in treating some immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). However, there remains ongoing debate regarding the extent to which metformin can reduce the risk of developing IMIDs. We used the data from genome-wide association studies to explore the causal relationship between metformin treatment and some IMIDs through the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Additionally, sensitivity analyses were performed using the Cochran Q-test, MR-PRESSO and "leave-one-out" to confirm the robustness of our conclusions. The MR analysis indicated that metformin treatment could reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (OR = 0.018, 95% CI: 1.33 × 10-3-0.233, P = .002), multiple sclerosis (MS) (OR = 0.966, 95% CI: 0.936-0.997, P = .030) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) (OR = 6.82 × 10-4, 95% CI: 7.83 × 10-6-5.93 × 10-2, P = .001). But metformin treatment is not significantly associated with the risk of Crohn disease (OR = 0.994, 95% CI: 0.979-1.009, P = .431), ulcerative colitis (UC) (OR = 0.987, 95% CI: 0.965-1.009, P = .234), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (OR = 164.373, 95% CI: 0.158-1.71 × 105, P = .150), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) (OR = 2.909, 95% CI: 4.58 × 10-3-1.85 × 103, P = .746) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) (OR = 0.055, 95% CI: 1.44 × 10-3-2.112, P = .119). Due to the heterogeneity of the data from UC, SLE, MS, and PBC, we adjusted them. After adjustment, there is no change in the results for UC, SLE, MS, and PBC. The findings of this study support metformin treatment may reduce the risk of RA, MS, and PSC.
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