Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID

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Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID

Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID.

Since 2023, the number of infections caused by the new coronavirus has been greatly reduced. However, some people who have recovered from the previous infection will continue to have physical, psychological or cognitive symptoms, that is, Long-COVID sequelae, referred to as “Long-COVID” , affecting about 10% of people infected with COVID-19.

According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) , “Long-COVID” is a disease that people infected with COVID-19 virus may face. Symptoms usually include fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, brain fog, loss of smell or taste, etc. The “Long-COVID” can last for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, or even longer, and the disease has been described as the next public health disaster in the making.

Metformin (Metformin) has the effect of lowering blood sugar by inhibiting the production of glucose in the liver. It is the first-line drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are taking metformin. As an old drug, people’s research on metformin has never stopped, and the research enthusiasm is also increasing day by day, and metformin is always refreshing our understanding of it, and continues to bring people one surprise after another.

In recent years, many studies have shown that in addition to its hypoglycemic effect, metformin also has the effect of losing weight. Many preclinical and clinical studies have also observed that metformin has beneficial effects in anti-aging, treatment of cognitive impairment, and cardiovascular diseases, so metformin is also known as the “magic drug ” .

On June 8 , 2023, researchers from the University of Minnesota published an article titled : Outpatient treatment of COVID -19 and incidence of post -COVID-19 condition over 10 months (COVID-OUT): a multicentre, randomised, quadruple-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 trial research paper .

The large, randomized, controlled clinical trial of 1,125 people showed a 41% reduction in the incidence of Long-COVID among people who used metformin when infected with COVID-19 .

The study also found that COVID-19 patients who started metformin had a 42% reduction in emergency room visits, hospitalizations or deaths.

Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID

Overall, the results of this study suggest that early treatment of metformin in COVID-19 patients not only reduces the risk of hospitalization and death, but also reduces the risk of Long-COVID after recovery.

However, treatment with ivermectin or fluvoxamine did not demonstrate a similar benefit.

In the COVID-OUT study, researchers from several academic institutions tested three generic drugs — metformin, ivermectin , and fluvoxamine — against the past three Efficacy in adults diagnosed with COVID-19 within days.

The randomized, four-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial is the first in the U.S. to investigate whether the drugs can prevent serious and Long-COVID.

The trial found that people who took metformin within 7 days of the onset of symptoms of COVID-19 were 41% less likely than those who took a placebo to develop a Long-COVID, and if they started taking metformin within 4 days, they were 63% less likely.

Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID

Lead researcher Carolyn Bramante , an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine , said the findings of this study are important because the long-term impact of COVID-19 can have a significant impact on people’s lives.

Metformin is an inexpensive, safe, and widely available drug, and its use as a preventive measure has the potential to have major public health implications.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, millions of people around the world have died from the virus, and countless people are still suffering from the long-term suffering of COVID-19. As the first COVID-19 treatment proven to reduce Long-COVID in a randomized controlled trial, metformin is safe, available and inexpensive.

Metformin is also one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States and globally, with more than 150 million people taking it each year. This new treatment option is especially important for the roughly one-third of patients who are unable to take Paxlovid due to drug conflicts or medical conditions.

In addition, metformin treatment also reduced COVID-19-related hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and mortality by 40%. This part of the results was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in August 2022 .

Lancet: Metformin can significantly reduce the incidence of Long-COVID