ArticleOrthopaedic surgery2026
Metformin Use Is Associated With Reduced Inflammation and Pain After Total Knee Arthroplasty in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.
Article in Orthopaedic surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePostoperative inflammation and pain remain key barriers to recovery after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Metformin has anti-inflammatory properties, but its perioperative impact in TKA is unclear. This study evaluated whether regular metformin use reduces postoperative inflammation and pain in T2DM patients undergoing TKA.
methodsIn this single-center retrospective cohort study, patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who underwent primary TKA between December 2024 and May 2025 were included. Patients were grouped based on whether they had regularly taken metformin. 1:1 propensity score matching was performed to reduce baseline differences between groups, yielding 60 matched pairs. Inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and D-dimer were measured preoperatively and on postoperative days 1 and 3. Pain was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) on postoperative days 1 and 3. Linear mixed-effects models were used to compare outcomes between groups after adjusting for residual confounders.
resultsIn the matched cohort, the metformin group showed significantly lower CRP levels on postoperative day 3 (107.04 ± 49.19 vs. 130.91 ± 59.62 mg/L, p = 0.02), lower IL-6 levels on postoperative day 1 (62.22 ± 47.17 vs. 91.07 ± 41.55 pg/mL, p < 0.01), and postoperative day 3 (31.33 ± 20.84 vs. 57.74 ± 59.98 pg/mL, p < 0.01), and lower ESR levels on postoperative day 3 (45.40 ± 17.85 vs. 47.05 ± 20.19 mm/h, p = 0.03) than the non-metformin group. VAS pain scores on postoperative day 3 were also significantly lower in the metformin group (3.03 ± 1.03 vs. 4.15 ± 1.25, p < 0.01). These differences remained significant after adjusting for confounders.
conclusionLong-term regular use of metformin is associated with reduced acute inflammation and postoperative pain in T2DM patients undergoing TKA. As a widely used and well-tolerated medication, metformin holds promise as a low-cost, adjunctive therapeutic strategy to enhance early recovery and improve perioperative outcomes in diabetic patients undergoing TKA.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.