A commonly used diabetes drug, Metformin, was found to be effective against knee arthritis pain for people suffering from obesity, according to a recent study.
The drug minimised knee arthritis pain during a six-month treatment period, postponing the need for knee replacement surgery, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Uses of Metformin
Metformin is used to reduce blood sugar levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes.
It minimises sugar absorption from the intestines, and enhances insulin sensitivity, as reported by Drugs.com.
To assess it, researchers conducted a study involving 107 overweight individuals with knee pain and assigned up to half to consume Metformin drugs and the rest a placebo.
The Metformin group reported 13-points pain reduction following a six-month treatment, in contrast to a 19-point reduction for the placebo group.
The results show that Metformin is a potentially new and affordable way to improve knee pain from arthritis, Cicuttini said.
The results indicated that the drug is a cost-effective drug to enhance knee pain from arthritis, according to a professor of health systems services and policy at Monash University in Australia senior researcher Flavia Cicuttini.
“At first glance this may seem reasonable, but it is a major problem because patient dissatisfaction with knee replacements is already high at between 20 to 30%, even when the operation is technically perfect,” Cicuttini added.
Dr. Cicuttini highlighted that undergoing expensive knee replacement surgeries only to continue facing pain is poor-quality care, and doing the procedures initially increases the chance it will require to be redone.
She further emphasised that Metformin, a cost-effective and familiar medication.
It may assist delay knee replacements by reducing pain and enhancing physical activity. However, she stated that larger cynical trials are required to confirm its advantages.
