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Lifestyle intervention, metformin not tied to cognition
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Cognition was unaffected by metformin or intensive lifestyle intervention in participants of the Diabetes Prevention Program, according to findings published in Diabetes Care.
José A. Luchsinger, MD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated data from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcome Study on 2,280 adults (mean age, 63.1 years) randomly assigned to a lifestyle intervention (n = 749), metformin (n = 776) or placebo (n = 755) to determine the effect of each therapy on cognition.
The lifestyle intervention was a goal-based diet and physical activity intervention aimed at achieving 7% weight loss from baseline.
Compared with men, women performed better on all cognitive tests. Metformin exposure was longer (8.72 years) compared with the lifestyle intervention (0.96 years) and placebo (1.43 years).
Type 2 diabetes incidence was higher in the placebo group (57.9%) compared with the metformin group (50.4%) and lifestyle intervention group (47%; P < .001).
No differences were found for cognition among the groups.
“Prevention of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle and metformin was not related to better cognitive performance 12 years after randomization in a mostly middle-aged sample of people with [impaired glucose tolerance], but worse glycemia at the time of cognitive testing was related to worse cognitive performance,” the researchers wrote. “Our data suggest that metformin is safe from a cognitive standpoint.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: Luchsinger reports receiving a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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