Metformin lowers the risk of getting long COVID

In a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota researchers found that metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, prevents the development of long COVID.

The study, called COVID-OUT, investigated if early outpatient COVID-19 treatment with metformin, ivermectin or fluvoxamine could prevent long COVID. Long COVID is a chronic illness that can affect up to 10% of people who have had COVID-19.

The study included more than 1,200 participants who were randomly chosen to receive either metformin or placebo, and an additional subset received ivermectin, fluvoxamine or their placebos. Participants were between 30 and 85 years old who qualified as overweight or obese. Over 1,100 of the participants reported on their symptoms for up to 10 months after their initial COVID-19 diagnosis.

This was a large, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial which enrolled volunteers across the United States. The study found:

Those who received metformin were more than 40% less likely to develop long COVID than those who received an identical looking placebo.

For participants who started metformin less than four days after their COVID symptoms started, metformin decreased the risk of long COVID by 63%.

The effect was consistent across different demographic populations of volunteers who participated and across multiple viral variants, including the Omicron variant.

Ivermectin and fluvoxamine did not prevent long COVID.

Reference:

Outpatient treatment of COVID-19 and incidence of post-COVID-19 condition over 10 months (COVID-OUT): a multicentre, randomised, quadruple-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 trial,The Lancet Infectious Diseases, DOI 10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00299-2