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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Mar;11(3):191-202.
doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00004-9. Epub 2023 Feb 3.

Outcomes in children of women with type 2 diabetes exposed to metformin versus placebo during pregnancy (MiTy Kids): a 24-month follow-up of the MiTy randomised controlled trial

Collaborators, Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Outcomes in children of women with type 2 diabetes exposed to metformin versus placebo during pregnancy (MiTy Kids): a 24-month follow-up of the MiTy randomised controlled trial

Denice S Feig et al. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Metformin is increasingly being used during pregnancy, with potentially adverse long-term effects on children. We aimed to examine adiposity in children of women with type 2 diabetes from the Metformin in Women with Type 2 Diabetes in Pregnancy (MiTy) trial, with and without in-utero exposure to metformin, up to 24 months of age.

Methods: MiTy Kids is a follow-up study that included infants of women who participated in the MiTy randomised controlled trial, receiving either oral 1000 mg metformin twice daily or placebo. Caregivers and researchers remained masked to the type of medication (metformin or placebo) mothers received during their pregnancy. Anthropometric measurements, including weight, height, and skinfold thicknesses, were taken at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. At 24 months, linear regression was used to compare the BMI Z score and sum of skinfolds in the metformin versus placebo groups, adjusted for confounders. Fractional polynomials were used to assess growth trajectories. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01832181.

Findings: Of the 465 eligible children, 283 (61%) were included from 19 centres in Canada and Australia. At 24 months, there was no difference between groups in mean BMI Z score (0·84 [SD 1·52] with metformin vs 0·91 [1·38] with placebo; mean difference 0·07 [95% CI -0·31 to 0·45], p=0·72) or mean sum of skinfolds (23·0 mm [5·2] vs 23·8 mm [5·4]; mean difference 0·8 mm [-0·7 to 2·3], p=0·31). Metformin was not a predictor of BMI Z score at 24 months of age (mean difference -0·01 [95% CI -0·42 to 0·37], p=0·92). There was no overall difference in BMI trajectory but, in males, trajectories were significantly different by treatment (p=0·048); BMI in the metformin group was higher between 6 and 24 months. Children of women with type 2 diabetes were approximately 1 SD heavier than the WHO reference population.

Interpretation: Anthropometrics were similar in children exposed and those not exposed to metformin in utero; hence, overall, data are reassuring with regard to the use of metformin during pregnancy in women with type 2 diabetes and the long-term health of their children.

Funding: Canadian Institute for Health Research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests DSF has received honoraria from Novo Nordisc for serving on an advisory board and from Sanofi for lectures, unrelated to this current work. AMH is a principal investigator for clinical trials from Levo Therapeutics and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals; is on the Pfizer Canada Somatrogon advisory board and the Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Bardet-Biedl Syndrome advisory board; and has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and W Garfield Weston Foundation's Weston Family Microbiome Initiative for unrelated work. IGF declares grants from the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, McGill University. JB received honoraria for presentations from Ferring Pharmaceuticals. LL is a member of the Board of Directors of Diabetes Canada (volunteer) and receives salary support as Director of the University of Toronto Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations (donation from Novo Nordisk to University of Toronto). JJS received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support her postdoctoral fellowship salary, and grant funds were also used to attend the American Diabetes Association 2022 meeting. JH received research funding from Levo Therapeutics, SunLife, Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Mead Johnson, Pfizer, and Foundation for Prader-Willi Research; served as a consultant for Novo Nordisk Canada; received an honoraria for speaking from Pfizer; and is the medical director for SickKids Team Obesity Management Program. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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