A study recently published in JAMA Ophthalmology reveals that the commonly prescribed drug for diabetes, metformin, may also be beneficial in reducing the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Metformin has demonstrated its anti-agiing and protective properties against many other diseases including cardiovascular, dementia and primary open-angle glaucoma.
Researchers evaluated 312,404 patients in the case-control study who were 55 years and older and had a new diagnosis of AMD and compared them with 312,376 control participants matched for development of AMD.
Results of the study showed that using metformin reduced the risk of developing AMD and the most benefit was seen with at least two years of a low to moderate use of the drug. One important exception was that patients with diabetic retinopathy did not see the benefit of being on metformin in reducing their risk of developing AMD.
Further indications and warnings about metformin can be found at:
