Studies have suggested that
metformin can potentially decrease the incidence of
cancer and improve survival outcomes. However, the association between
metformin use and the incidence and survival of
endometrial cancer (EC) remains controversial. So, a meta-analysis was performed. An electronic search was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science. The outcome measures were relative risks (RRs) or hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing the EC incidence and survival in patients treated with and without
metformin. Eleven studies involving 766,926 participants were included in this study. In the pooled analysis of five studies which evaluated the association of
metformin use with the incidence of EC, we found that
metformin use was associated with a 13% reduction in EC risk among patients with diabetes (RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80-0.95; p = 0.006). In the pooled analysis of six retrospective cohort studies evaluating the effect of
metformin on the survival of EC patients, we found that, relative to nonuse,
metformin use significantly improved the survival of EC patients (HR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.45-0.87; p = 0.006). This study showed that
metformin use was significantly associated with a decreased incidence of EC in diabetes and a favorable survival outcome of EC patients.