Metformin use not linked to lower Osteoarthritis Risk among diabetes patients: Study
Researchers have found in a new study that among individuals with newly diagnosed diabetes and no prior osteoarthritis (OA), metformin use was not associated with a reduced risk of developing osteoarthritis
A study was done to evaluate the association between metformin use and incident osteoarthritis (OA) in people with diabetes and the impact of dosing. Participants were aged 35–80 years in 2005, without diabetes or Oosteoarthritis. They identified persons with incident diabetes between 2006 and 2016 and excluded those with osteoarthritis before the diabetes diagnosis and those with an incident osteoarthritis diagnosis within 3 years of the diabetes diagnosis. Cases were defined as individuals with incident osteoarthritis before 2020 and were matched with up to four controls without osteoarthritis in the same period, by sex, diabetes duration, birth year (±1 year) and date of diabetes diagnosis (±180 days) using incidence density sampling. Metformin use before the index date (osteoarthritis diagnosis) was the main exposure. Secondary exposures were quartiles of total metformin use (defined daily doses (DDD)) and duration-adjusted use (DDD/day), reflecting average daily use. We estimated risk ratios with 95% CIs using conditional logistic regressions, adjusted for age at diabetes diagnosis, education, immigration status and comorbidities.
They identified 4007 cases and 14 111 controls. Any metformin use was not associated with osteoarthritis risk (risk ratio (RR) 1.02, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.12). Results for higher total use (0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.11)) and duration-adjusted use (0.92 (95% CI 0.79 to 1.07)) showed no or inconclusive associations.
In individuals with incident diabetes and no prior osteoarthritis, metformin was not linked to a lower risk of developing osteoarthritis.
Reference:
Dell’Isola A, Magnusson K, Turkiewicz A, et alMetformin use and the risk of incident osteoarthritis among individuals with diabetes: a register-based nested case-control study. BMJ Open 2026;16:e115587. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-115587
Keywords:
Metformin, linked, lower, Osteoarthritis Risk, among, diabetes, patients, Study,Dell’Isola A, Magnusson K, Turkiewicz A, BMJ Open
