MONDAY, Nov. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Metformin is associated with a lower rate of asthma attacks among people with diabetes, according to a study published online Nov. 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Bohee Lee, Ph.D., from Imperial College London, and colleagues estimated the association of metformin and add-on antidiabetic medications (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists [GLP-1 RAs], dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sulphonylureas, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, and insulin) with asthma attacks. The analysis included data from the U.K. Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum-linked hospital admissions and mortality data (2004 to 2020) for people with new use of metformin with type 2 diabetes.

The researchers found that among 4,278 patients in the self-controlled case series (SCCS) and 8,424 patients in the inverse probability of treatment weighting cohort (IPTW), metformin was associated with fewer asthma attacks of similar magnitude in both approaches (SCCS: incidence rate ratio, 0.68; IPTW: hazard ratio, 0.76). There was no evidence of significant bias in negative control analyses. The association was not modified by hemoglobin A1c levels, body mass index, blood eosinophil cell counts, or asthma severity. GLP-1 RAs were the only add-on antidiabetic medication to have an additive association (SCCS: incidence rate ratio, 0.60).

“The results of this cohort study suggest that metformin was associated with a lower rate of asthma attacks, with further reductions with the use of GLP-1 RA,” the authors write. “This appeared to be associated with mechanisms other than through glycemic control or weight loss and occurred across asthma phenotypes.”

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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