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WEDNESDAY, July 24, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Metformin use is associated with a substantially lower risk for dementia among younger African-American patients with diabetes compared with sulfonylurea initiation, according to a study published in the July\/August issue of the Annals of Family Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey F. Scherrer, Ph.D., from Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and colleagues used Veterans Health Administration medical record data (2000 to 2015) to identify 73,761 African-American and white patients (aged \u226550 years) who were free of dementia and diabetes medications at baseline (2000 and 2001) but subsequently initiated metformin or sulfonylurea monotherapy.<\/p>\n
When controlling for other variables, the researchers found that metformin use was associated with a significantly lower risk for dementia compared with sulfonylurea use in African-American patients (hazard ratio [HR], 0.73; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.6 to 0.89) but not among white patients (HR, 0.96; 95 percent CI, 0.9 to 1.03). The association was strongest among African-American patients aged 50 to 64 years (HR, 0.6; 95 percent CI, 0.45 to 0.81). Metformin was significantly associated with a lower risk for dementia in both races for older patients (those aged 65 to 74 years). There was no association between metformin use and dementia in patients aged \u226575 years.<\/p>\n
“These results may point to a novel approach for reducing the risk of dementia in African-Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” the authors write.<\/p>\n