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Preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus: is metformin the answer?

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Most individuals with prediabetes—defined by the presence of impaired glucose levels—are overweight or obese and could benefit from lifestyle changes to lose weight and reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). As lifestyle interventions are hard to implement and not effective over the long term in most individuals, could additional intervention with pharmacotherapy be warranted for the prevention of T2DM?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, 3 North University Hospital, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, 90033, CA, USA

    Thomas A. Buchanan

  2. Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, 100 S. Los Robles Avenue, 5th Floor, Pasadena, 91101, CA, USA

    Anny H. Xiang

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  1. Thomas A. Buchanan
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  2. Anny H. Xiang
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Correspondence to Thomas A. Buchanan.

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Competing interests

T. A. Buchanan declares associations with the following companies: Eli Lilly (speakers bureau), Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (consultant, speakers bureau, grant/research support) Tethys Bioscience (consultant, stockholer). A. H. Xiang declares associations with the following companies: Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (grant/research support), Tethys Bioscience (consultant).

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Buchanan, T., Xiang, A. Preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus: is metformin the answer?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 6, 253–254 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2010.25

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