When patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and chronic heart failure (CHF) are admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), their treatment often sparks a lot of debate among doctors.
The main question is: should these patients receive metformin, a common diabetes drug, or not?
A new study looked into this issue and found some surprising results.
What is Metformin?
Metformin is a widely-used medicine for type 2 diabetes. It lowers blood sugar levels and helps your body respond better to insulin, the hormone that manages sugar in your blood.
But there’s been a lot of controversy about using metformin for patients with diabetes and heart failure who are in the ICU.
The Study and Its Purpose
Researchers wanted to find out what would happen to patients with diabetes and heart failure who were given metformin while in the ICU.
They were particularly interested in seeing whether the drug affected the patients’ chances of survival.
To do this, they turned to a huge database called the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care. From this database, they were able to find and study the medical records of patients who fit their criteria.
The Study’s Findings
In total, the researchers looked at the records of 2,153 patients with both T2DM and CHF. Of these, 180 patients had been given metformin, while the rest had not.
When they compared the two groups, they found something very interesting. In the group that didn’t receive metformin, about 30.5% of patients passed away within 90 days of being admitted to the ICU.
But in the group that did receive metformin, only 5.5% of patients passed away in the same timeframe.
In other words, patients who got metformin seemed to have a much better chance of surviving.
Even after the researchers controlled for other factors that could affect the results, they found that patients on metformin had a 71% lower chance of dying within 90 days.
What Does This Mean?
These findings suggest that giving metformin to ICU patients with diabetes and heart failure could potentially lower their risk of death.
This could mean a significant change in the way these patients are treated in the future.
It’s important to note, however, that more research is needed to confirm these results and understand exactly why metformin seems to have this effect.
But the findings are definitely promising and offer a new perspective on the controversial issue of using metformin in the ICU.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about a cure for type 2 diabetes, and Vitamin D could benefit people with diabetic neuropathic pain.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that blackcurrants can reduce blood sugar after meal and results showing how drinking milk affects risks of heart disease and cancer.
The study was published in Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications.
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