Effect of Metformin as adjunct therapy with insulin in adolescent Pakistani people with type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a growing metabolic disorder, its ultimate therapy is the use of taking insulin regularly but, despite of that these patients cannot survive for longer durations due to poor glycaemic control, insulin resistance and development of complications. This clinical trial was designed to see if the addition of metformin can affect the dose of insulin and its complications and conducted for three months in Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology. It included 80 patients of Type 1 Diabetes above 12 years of age between April 2019 to March 2020. Patients were divided into two groups. Group 1(n=30) was given Metformin with insulin and in Group 2 (n=50) patients were prescribed insulin only. Blood samples were collected at the beginning and end of trial to check Fasting and Random blood glucose and HbA1c levels. Paired sample t test and independent t test were applied, p value 0.05 was considered significant. A significant difference in HbA1c (p<0.001) and Random Blood Glucose (p=0.006) was noticed in group 1after three months. BMI increased in group 2, (p=0.024). The study concludes that Metformin might have a role in decreasing HbA1c and Random blood glucose levels in children above 12 years of age.

Automated summary

This clinical trial found that the addition of metformin can decrease blood glucose and HbA1c levels in patients with type 1 diabetes, suggesting its potential role in improving diabetes control.