Drug used to treat diabetes could help prevent dementia

By Stephen Beech

A common diabetes drug could help prevent dementia, suggests a new study.

Metformin - a medication traditionally prescribed to treat diabetes - is linked to lower risks of dementia and early death, say scientists.

The study by researchers at Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, included 452,777 adults with varying degrees of overweight and obesity.

More than 35,700 cases of dementia and 76,048 deaths occurred over 10 years.

But metformin users exhibited "significantly lower" risks of dementia, according to the findings published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

The benefits of metformin were seen across all categories of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity, with 8% to 12% lower risks of dementia and 26 to 28% lower risks of death.

Co-corresponding author Professor Chiehfeng Chen said: “Although our study results are promising for metformin’s effects on dementia and mortality, further research is required to explore the mechanisms involved.”

Metformin, which has been prescribed for several decades, lowers the amount of sugar the liver pumps out and helps the body respond to insulin better.

It is the first-line treatment for around seven in 10 people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Obesity, similar to type 2 diabetes, is a risk factor for dementia.

Previous studies have shown that being severely overweight lowers the body’s defences against the damage dementia inflicts on the brain and causes chronic inflammation, which can potentially damage nerve cells.

Previous research into metformin as a dementia preventative had mainly focused on people with diabetes.

The Taiwanese study is the first to use real-world data to investigate the possibility in people with obesity.