Credit: UAB
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Use of the diabetes drug metformin before a diagnosis of COVID-19 is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a racially diverse study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Diabetes is a significant comorbidity for COVID-19. This beneficial effect remained, even after correcting for age, sex, race, obesity, and hypertension or chronic kidney disease and heart failure, said Anath Shalev, M.D., director of UAB s Comprehensive Diabetes Center and leader of the study. Since similar results have now been obtained in different populations from around the world including China, France and a UnitedHealthcare analysis this suggests that the observed reduction in mortality risk associated with metformin use in subjects with Type 2 diabetes and COVID-19 might be generalizable, Shalev said.