Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Diabetes

Metformin and the risk of dialysis

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 12, page 625 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

The use of metformin as a first-line therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing; however, evidence of the risk of kidney problems when metformin is used in these patients has been inconclusive. Now, a nationwide retrospective cohort study from Denmark has demonstrated that metformin is associated with a much higher risk of acute dialysis than that with sulphonylureas.

The study included 168,443 drug-naive patients with T2DM aged ≥50 years who initiated treatment with metformin (119,153 of the patients) or a sulphonylurea between 2000 and 2012. “We calculated absolute 1-year risks of acute dialysis derived from predictions of cause-specific Cox regression models adjusted for potential confounders for acute dialysis, and for death or end-stage renal disease without acute dialysis using a semi-parametric g-formula approach,” explains corresponding author Nicholas Carlson.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Carlson, N. et al. Metformin-associated risk of acute dialysis in patients with type 2 diabetes: A nationwide cohort study. Diabetes Obes. Metab. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dom.12764 (2016)

Download references

Authors
  1. Claire Greenhill
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Greenhill, C. Metformin and the risk of dialysis. Nat Rev Endocrinol 12, 625 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2016.154

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2016.154

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing