Posted on 03/29/2022 6:53:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
A large cohort study found that babies born to men who took metformin during the period of sperm development were at increased risk for birth defects, specifically genital defects in boys. These finding suggest that men with diabetes who are taking metformin should talk to their doctors about whether they should switch to another treatment when trying to conceive a child. However, because diabetes control also affects sperm quality, discontinuing metformin treatment could also affect birth outcomes. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Diabetes increasingly occurs in people of reproductive age, compromises sperm quality, and is associated with impaired male fertility. Some diabetes drugs may also affect male reproductive health.
Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark and Stanford University studied data from nation-wide national registries of births, patients, and prescriptions to evaluate whether the risk for birth defects varied among offspring born to men treated with insulin, metformin, or sulfonylureas prior to conception. Babies were considered exposed to a diabetes drug if their father filled at least 1 prescription during the 3 months when the fertilizing sperm were developing.
The researchers compared birth defects in the babies across diabetes drugs, different times of taking the drug relative to development of fertilizing sperm, and with unexposed siblings of the babies. Babies whose fathers took insulin had no increased risk for a birth defect compared with the general group.
Babies whose fathers took metformin had an increased risk for birth defects. There were too few babies whose fathers took sulfonylureas to determine risks for birth defects with any certainty. Taking metformin before or after sperm development did not increase the risk for birth defects. Unexposed siblings were also not at increased risk.
According to the authors, the size of the diabetes pandemic suggests that treatment of prospective fathers with diabetes, including pharmacologic management and counseling on diet, physical exercise, and weight loss, should be subject to further study.
An editorial from Germaine M. Buck Louis, PhD, MS at George Mason University emphasizes the importance of corroborating the findings, given the prevalence of metformin use as first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes. The author also calls for guidance from clinicians to help couples planning pregnancy weigh the risks and benefits of paternal metformin use relative to other medications.
References:
“Preconception Antidiabetic Drugs in Men and Birth Defects in Offspring: A Nationwide Cohort Study” by Maarten J. Wensink, MD, PhD, Ying Lu, PhD, Lu Tian, PhD, Gary M. Shaw, DrPH, Silvia Rizzi, PhD, Tina Kold Jensen, PhD, Elisabeth R. Mathiesen, MD, Niels E. Skakkebæk, MD, DMSc, Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen, PhD and Michael L. Eisenberg, MD, 29 March 2022, Annals of Internal Medicine. DOI: 10.7326/M21-4389
“Paternal Preconception Diabetes Drugs and Birth Defects in Offspring: A Call for More Conclusive Study” by Germaine M. Buck Louis, PhD, MS, 29 March 2022, Annals of Internal Medicine. DOI: 10.7326/M22-0770
My husband got diabetes in his sixties after he stopped smoking followed by eating hard candy.
His doctor who was new and right after all her med training put him on metformin as well as other things.
After several yrs she suddenly said that she was NOT going to RX it any longer because while in school one of her pts had died from it. She said pts should not take the metformin after a certain number of yrs. Does this make sense?
These days, we’re all white supremacists. Just go with the flow.
It’s a pretty standard thing that after you take a medication for so many years it will lose its effectiveness and/or the side effects will tend to increase - that is, you’ll develop a reaction to it. (In the case of anticholinergics, you start to lose your cognitive function. Not good.)
But you can’t tell a doctor anything, even a new one! If you say you’ve read bad things about the medication - for example - they will say “Stop going to internet websites.” I started to notice lawsuits being filed against metformin some years ago but I was never interested enough to find out what the lawsuits were about. (I don’t work in medicine anymore.)
Keep in mind that doctors are forced by insurance companies to prescribe this and that medication for this and that diagnosis AND NOTHING ELSE. I’ve worked for doctors who - in letters to other doctors - bemoan that because of the patient’s insurance, they can’t treat him/her with something that is known to work, but have to use some other malarkey that doesn’t work as well (or at all).
This really shouldn’t be that big of a problem. Not that the younger folks can’t develop Diabetes, but really this something men who start taking Metformin should be past the age of impregnating women, at least if you’re a responsible adult, unless you really want to be a senior citizen watching your tot enter junior high. I take Metformin at 47, with no side effects, for the record.
Fortunately, I did not develop diabetes until long after my kids were born. I wonder what we will eventually discover about these COVID shots in years to come. After all, look how long it took them to make this connection.
Fortunately, I did not develop diabetes until long after my kids were born. I wonder what we will eventually discover about these COVID shots in years to come. After all, look how long it took them to make this connection.
Yeah, the push for a more expensive drug. I notice this article didn’t get into real specifics.
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