Introduction: Little is known about the heterogeneous treatment effects of metformin on dementia risk in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods: Participants (≥ 50 years) with T2D and normal cognition at baseline were identified from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center database (2005-2021). We applied a doubly robust learning approach to estimate risk differences (RD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for dementia risk between metformin use and no use in the overall population and subgroups identified through a decision tree model.
Results: Among 1393 participants, 104 developed dementia over a 4-year median follow-up. Metformin was significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia in the overall population (RD, -3.2%; 95% CI, -6.2% to -0.2%). We identified four subgroups with varied risks for dementia, defined by neuropsychiatric disorders, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and antidepressant use.
Discussion: Metformin use was significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia in individuals with T2D, with significant variability among subgroups.
Keywords: dementia; diabetes; heterogeneous treatment effect; metformin.
© 2023 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.