Taking metformin in the first few days after contracting coronavirus may be associated with a reduced risk of developing long COVID or dying. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School, who analysed patients' medical records in the United States.
The findings were published in the Journal of Medical Virology. The researchers compared two groups of 248 people each. Participants in the first group received a new prescription for metformin within six days of being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Patients in the control group were prescribed other medications during the same period: fluvoxamine, fluticasone, ivermectin or montelukast.
Over a six-month period, long COVID or death was recorded in 4% of patients who received metformin, compared with 8.5% of those in the control group. This represents an absolute difference of 4.5 percentage points and a relative risk reduction of approximately 53%.
Metformin is a medication used to treat prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. More than half of the participants in both groups were infected with the Omicron variant.
The authors note that the findings are consistent with those of an earlier UK study.
However, the research was based on an analysis of electronic medical records and does not prove that metformin itself was responsible for the reduced risk.
Further research, including clinical trials, is needed to confirm the effect.
For now, these findings do not mean that people should take metformin on their own to prevent long COVID. The medication has contraindications and should only be taken when prescribed by a doctor.
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