The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Reduced Risk of Lung Cancer With Metformin Therapy in Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Abstract
Emerging evidence from epidemiologic studies and basic science suggests an inverse association between metformin use and cancer risk in diabetic patients. However, the association with lung cancer is not consistent. We summarized the evidence currently available (2009-2013) and explored sources of heterogeneity. Metformin therapy was associated with significantly lower risks of cancers of the lung (4 studies; pooled relative risk = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55, 0.95; P = 0.02) and respiratory system (6 studies; pooled relative risk = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.75, 0.96; P = 0.01). There was evidence of moderate heterogeneity (I(2) > 50%). The major sources of heterogeneity were smoking adjustment status and cancer site. The relative risk from studies that adjusted for smoking was 1.16-fold (95% CI: 1.00, 1.35) closer to the null than that from studies not adjusting for smoking. The relative risk of respiratory cancer was 1.23-fold (95% CI: 1.02, 1.49) closer to the null than that for lung cancer. In conclusion, metformin use appears to be associated with lower risks of lung and respiratory cancer in diabetic patients. However, caution regarding overestimation is needed, since adjustment for smoking attenuates the association.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Originally introduced for the treatment of diabetes, metformin is now gaining attention as a potential anti-cancer agent (7–10) (Figure 1).”
In the citing paper
“this finding has subsequently been confirmed in several other studies(7–10).”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Jemal, A., Bray, F., Ferlay, J., Ward, E., & Forman, D. (2011) · CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians · doi:10.3322/caac.20107 · Cited by 55,077
Meta-analysis in clinical trials
DerSimonian, R., & Laird, N. (1986) · Controlled Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/0197-2456(86)90046-2 · Cited by 39,552
Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis
Higgins, J. P. T., & Thompson, S. G. (2002) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.1186 · Cited by 36,763
von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., Vandenbroucke, J. P., & Initiative, F. T. S. (2007) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-147-8-200710160-00010 · Cited by 17,796
Quantitative Synthesis in Systematic Reviews
Lau, J., Ioannidis, J. P. A., & Schmid, C. H. (1997) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-127-9-199711010-00008 · Cited by 2,517
Chen, Y., Ebenstein, A. Y., Greenstone, M., & Li, H. (2013) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1300018110 · Cited by 1,819
Raaschou‐Nielsen, O., Andersen, Z. J., Beelen, R. M. J., Samoli, E., Stafoggia, M., Weinmayr, G., Hoffmann, B. H., Fischer, P. H., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Brunekreef, B., et al. (2013) · The Lancet Oncology · doi:10.1016/s1470-2045(13)70279-1 · Cited by 1,667
Lee, I.-M., Cook, N. R., Gaziano, J. M., Gordon, D., Ridker, P. M., Manson, J. E., Hennekens, C. H., & Buring, J. E. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.1.56 · Cited by 1,137
New Users of Metformin Are at Low Risk of Incident Cancer
Libby, G., Donnelly, L. A., Donnan, P. T., Alessi, D. R., Morris, A. D., & Evans, J. M. M. (2009) · Diabetes Care · doi:10.2337/dc08-2175 · Cited by 996
Metformin and Cancer Risk in Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
DeCensi, A., Puntoni, M., Goodwin, P., Cazzaniga, M., Gennari, A., Bonanni, B., & Gandini, S. (2010) · Cancer Prevention Research · doi:10.1158/1940-6207.capr-10-0157 · Cited by 918
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–119 of 119
Yenmiş, G. (2018) · AYDIN TIP FAKÜLTESİ KLİNİKLERİ DERGİSİ · doi:10.17932/iau.tfk.2018.008/2020.302/tfk_v03i2001 · Cited by 1
Boffetta, P., & Collatuzzo, G. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6625-3_36-1 · Cited by 2
Metformin as target metabolic drug in oncology
Shatova, O. P., Kaplun, D., & Zinkovych, I. (2017) · Malignant tumours · doi:10.18027/2224-5057-2017-2-83-89 · Cited by 1
Noto, H. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-10-4376-5_9 · Cited by 1
Jung, H. Y., & Lee, S. (2019) · Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy · doi:10.24304/kjcp.2019.29.3.186 · Cited by 1
Polypharmacology in Clinical Applications—Anticancer Polypharmacology
Wang, Z., & Yang, B. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-04998-9_3 · Cited by 1
Mitchell, A., Price, M., & Cipriano, G. C. (2021) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2021.06.04.21258310
Tiainen, S., Iivanainen, S., Alanen, V., Arffman, M., & Koivunen, J. P. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-859369/v1
O papel da metformina na sobrevida de pacientes com câncer de pulmão
Brandão, S. L. B. (2021) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/t.6.2021.tde-31012022-172232
Qin, L., Fan, Q., & Wu, J. W. (2023) · Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics · doi:10.1155/2023/5575513
Giugliano, F., Boldrini, L., Uliano, J., Crimini, E., Minchella, I., & Curigliano, G. (2023) · Cancer treatment and research · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-33602-7_8
Subbiah, V., Coleman, N., Piha-Paul, S. A., Tsimberidou, A. M., Jankú, F., Rodon, J. A., Pant, S., Dumbrava, E. E. I., Fu, S., Hong, D. S., et al. (2024) · doi:10.1158/2767-9764.c.7070350
Subbiah, V., Coleman, N., Piha-Paul, S. A., Tsimberidou, A. M., Jankú, F., Rodon, J. A., Pant, S., Dumbrava, E. E. I., Fu, S., Hong, D. S., et al. (2024) · doi:10.1158/2767-9764.c.7070350.v1
Wang, Z., Li, J., Wang, L., Liu, Y., Wang, W., Chen, J., Liang, H., Chen, Y. Q., & Zhu, S. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.26669784
Wang, Z., Li, J., Wang, L., Liu, Y., Wang, W., Chen, J., Liang, H., Chen, Y. Q., & Zhu, S. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.26669781
Wang, Z., Li, J., Wang, L., Liu, Y., Wang, W., Chen, J., Liang, H., Chen, Y. Q., & Zhu, S. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25034520
Wang, Z., Li, J., Wang, L., Liu, Y., Wang, W., Chen, J., Liang, H., Chen, Y. Q., & Zhu, S. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25034439
Feng, Y., Yu, Q., Li, H., Shen, B., Ding, J., & Hua, D. (2026) · BMC Cancer · doi:10.1186/s12885-025-15494-x
Karimi, M., Hooshmand, F., Mohammadian, K., Pourfaraji, S. M., & Mortezazadeh, M. (2026) · Cancer Reports · doi:10.1002/cnr2.70651
Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, Z.-J., Bi, Y., Li, S., Zhang, Q., Zhao, G., Guo, Y., & Song, Q.
- Affiliations
- Wuhan University (CN)
- Wuhan Donghu University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Zhi-Jiang
- Venue
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-06-10
- Volume
- 180
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11-14
- ISSN
- 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6256
- OpenAlex
- W3145105062
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Keywords
- metformin, lung cancer, respiratory cancer, diabetes mellitus, cancer risk, smoking adjustment, heterogeneity
- MeSH terms
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents, Lung Neoplasms, Metformin, Risk, Risk Factors, Smoking
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
