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Observational Study
. 2023;23(6):818-825.
doi: 10.2174/1871530323666221115091621.

Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Treated with Metformin: AME-MET Study - A Multicentric Real-world Study in Italy

Castellano Elena  1 , Giorgio Borretta  1 , Roberto Attanasio  2 , Boriano Alberto  3 , Daniela Agrimi  4 , Nicola Argese  5 , Cassandra Crescenti  6 , Olga Disoteo  7 , Alessandra Fusco  8 , Enrico Gabellieri  9 , Rinaldo Guglielmi  10 , Giuseppe Lisco  11 , Feliciano Lo Pomo  12 , Maurizio Nizzoli  13 , Annalisa Panico  14 , Barbara Pirali  15 , Antonio Stefano Salcuni  16 , Federica Turchi  17 , Franco Grimaldi  16
Affiliations
Observational Study

Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Treated with Metformin: AME-MET Study - A Multicentric Real-world Study in Italy

Castellano Elena et al. Endocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets. 2023.

Abstract

Aims: Metformin is the most widely used drug for the first-line treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but its use and schedule have been poorly investigated in elderly patients.

Methods: We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, multicentric study on metformin in T2DM outpatients older than 65 years who were taking the drug for at least 6 months and referred to Italian Endocrinology and Diabetology Services. The primary endpoint was daily metformin dose, and secondary endpoints were the correlations between metformin dose and age, comorbidities, and concomitant use of other drugs. The study was open to all members of AME (Associazione Medici Endocrinologi).

Results: Fifteen Italian centers recruited 751 consecutive participants (42.9% older than 75 years, 48.6% females). T2DM duration was 12.9 ± 9.7 years (longer than 10 years in 53.8%). Metformin had been used for 10.3 ± 6.8 years (longer than 10 years in 52.4%). Metformin dose was 1.6 ± 0.9 g/day (>1.5 g/day in 63.4%). As compared to the youngest, participants older than 75 years did not differ for metformin daily dose or number of administrations. Metformin dose was significantly directly correlated to eGFR, diabetes duration, and metformin treatment duration.

Conclusion: In this real-world study, the minimum daily effective dose of metformin was prescribed in more than half of older T2DM outpatients.

Keywords: HbA1c level; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; anti-diabetic drug; dosage; first-line treatment; metformin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise

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