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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, DESIGN, SETTING, SUBJECTS, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Analgesics, Diabetes Mellitus, Female, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents, Male, Metformin, Middle Aged, Neuralgia, Off-Label Use, Pain Measurement, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult.
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Metformin: Potential analgesic? Context: To determine the association of self-report use of metformin and pain intensity. Survey-based cross sectional. Primary care in an academic medical center. Three hundred and twenty nine participants with diabetes. A total of 329 men and women, aged 18-65, completed a phone-based survey. We utilized the Brief Pain Inventory to assess for pain intensity ratings; Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs to screen for neuropathy; and the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ8) Depression Scale to assess for depression. Three hundred and twenty nine diabetics (mean age 54- ± 8-year old) completed the study (162 metformin users, 167 nonusers). Compared with non-users, metformin users were used more often [38% vs 20%, P = 0.001]; had lower mean depression scores [6.8 vs 8.3; P = 0.026]and fewer comorbidities [1.5 vs 1.8, P = 0.022]. Adjusting for those three variables, pain scores were not significantly different between groups. In a subset analyses of those with neuropathic pain (n = 156), there were no differences in pain scores found between groups.
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In a clinic sample of patients with diabetes, the use of metformin at an average dose of 1,432 mg (SD = 596 mg) was not associated with lower pain scores. Given the anti-nociceptive effects of metformin in the animal models of pain, and the relative safety of metformin, future research should evaluate the effect of the higher dose of metformin as a potential analgesic.