Metformin may delay diabetes onset in those at risk
In people who are at risk of developing diabetes, treatment with metformin leads to modest improvements in weight, lipid (fat) profiles and fasting blood sugar. In addition, substantial reductions in insulin resistance, a condition that usually precedes diabetes, are seen, as well as the actual development of diabetes, according to a large review of published studies on this topic.
Dr. Shelley R. Salpeter from Stanford University School of Medicine, California and colleagues combined data from 31 trials that compared metformin with placebo or no treatment in a total of 4570 adults at risk for diabetes. Metformin comes in a long-acting tablet form and is sold under several trade names, such as Glucophage and Fortamet.
Metformin, compared with the other two groups, reduced body mass index by 5.3 percent, fasting blood sugar by 4.5 percent, fasting insulin by 14.4 percent, and calculated insulin resistance by 22.6 percent, according to the report in the American Journal of Medicine.
Obese women less likely to have cancer screenings
Obese women, particularly white obese women, are less likely than their thinner peers to be screened for breast and cervical cancers, researchers reported Monday.
In a review of 32 previously published studies, researchers found that obesity was consistently linked to lower rates of breast and cervical cancer screening among white women. Fourteen studies focused on cervical cancer, 10 on breast cancer and 8 looked at colorectal cancer.
Sarah S. Cohen and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, report the findings in the online edition of the journal Cancer.
Comprehensive sex ed may cut teen pregnancies
Comprehensive sex education that includes discussion of birth control may help reduce teen pregnancies, while abstinence-only programs seem to fall short, the results of a U.S. survey suggest.
Using data from a 2002 national survey, researchers found that among more than 1,700 unmarried, heterosexual teens between 15 and 19 years old, those who’d received comprehensive sex ed in school were 60 percent less likely to have been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant than teens who’d had no formal sex education.
Meanwhile, there was no clear benefit from abstinence-only education in preventing pregnancy or delaying sexual intercourse, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
