Common diabetes medications are associated with 30% more likely to live

Women with type 2 diabetes may have a greater chance of entering women in their 90s, according to new research from San Diego. This large-scale study shows that prescribed diabetes medications may play a role in promoting special life spans, adding to growing evidence that metformin may affect the basic aging process.

The study, published on May 19 in the Journal of Geriatric Diseases: Medical Sciences, found that women taking metformin had a 30% lower risk of dying before age 90, while taking Sulfonylurea, another common diabetes drug. The findings come from data collected through the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), one of the most comprehensive and long-term studies on women’s health in the country and have obtained thirty years of follow-up information.

Is it crucial to extend human lifespan by millions of medicine cabinets? Researchers warned against definitive conclusions, but the results added interesting evidence to the potential effects outside metformin control.

Metformin as a possible “therapeutic”

Metformin is increasingly attracting the attention of longevity researchers, a potential “therapeutic” drug that may slow down the aging process. The drug was initially approved for diabetes management and works primarily by reducing glucose production in the liver and increasing insulin sensitivity.

It is worth noting that this study focuses on special life spans, which are defined as life for 90 years or older. The researchers not only looked at the risks of general mortality, but also examined whether metformin use was associated with achieving this advanced era milestone.

The team adopted a rigorous approach called “target trial simulation,” which aims to replicate the conditions of a randomized controlled trial using observed data. They carefully match participants based on a number of factors including demographics, lifestyle behaviors, duration of diabetes, and other health conditions.

Key findings about metformin and lifespan

• Women taking metformin have a 30% lower risk of death before age 90, while women taking sulfonaea urea
• In the metformin group, the mortality rate before age 90 was 3.7 per 100 person-years, compared with 5.0 in the sulfonylurea group.
• Researchers carefully matched 438 women with type 2 diabetes based on many health and demographic factors
• The study included only women at least 60 years of age when they started two drugs
• This represents the first study specifically studying the association between metformin and special lifespan

Data from Landmark Women’s Health Study

The findings come from an analysis of Women’s Health Program, a large-scale research project that has been tracking the health of American women since the 1990s. WHI has made a huge contribution to our understanding of women’s health, producing over 2,400 scientific publications and affecting countless health advice.

The study was originally enrolled in 161,808 women aged 50-79 in the mid-1990s, continuing to follow more than 42,000 participants aged 78-108. This extraordinary long-term data collection creates a unique resource for studying health outcomes related to aging.

The study recently received new funding from the National Institutes of Health to ensure research on factors that affect women’s health and lifespan.

Limitations and future research needs

Although these results are promising, the researchers highlight important limitations. Since metformin was not compared with placebo in a randomized controlled trial, they could not explicitly determine that metformin directly leads to increased lifespan.

“Because this comparison was not performed on placebo in RCT, and causality could not be inferred given the observational design with residual confusion potential.” In other words, despite the best efforts of the researchers to explain other variables, unknown factors may affect drug selection and survival.

Led by Aladdin H. Shadyab, Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and Andrea Lacroix, Distinguished Professor, the team suggests that these findings contribute to an understanding of the potential role of metformin in promoting human health and longevity.

Wide impact on aging research

The results are increasingly consistent with scientific interest in existing drugs such as the potential anti-aging effects of metformin, such as the potential effects of metformin. Several mechanisms have been proposed, namely how metformin affects aging, including reducing inflammation, improving cellular energy metabolism, and modifying the composition of the gut microbiome.

Other studies have shown that metformin may reduce the risk of certain age-related diseases such as cancer and cognitive decline, even in patients without diabetes. Clinical trials of the drug are currently being studied, designed specifically to test its anti-aging properties.

These findings about special lifespan add an important part of the difficulty that drugs may not only affect lifespan but “healthy range”, which is part of life spent. As our population ages, this kind of research becomes increasingly important, with developing strategies to expand healthy aging and reduce the burden of age-related diseases.

For millions of people who have taken metformin for diabetes management, these results provide an interesting suggestion that their medications may have benefits for blood sugar control. However, experts warn that people should not take metformin without medical supervision for anti-aging purposes only, as more certain evidence is still needed.