Gestational diabetes & diabetes in pregnancy
Impact of metformin use during pregnancy on fetal congenital malformations across 11 organ systems: a meta-analysis and drug-target Mendelian randomization study
Pooled result · Overall CMs (meta-analysis)Result — go to the resultRelative risk 0.83 95% CI 0.71–0.99Authors' conclusion
By integrating clinical and genetic evidence, this study is consistent with the overall clinical safety of metformin use during pregnancy with respect to congenital malformations and provides hypothesis-generating insights into relevant biological pathways.
Study context
- Population
- Pregnancies with maternal metformin exposure (RCTs and cohort studies); Drug-target Mendelian randomization (DTMR) of metformin target genes (eQTLs) and 64 congenital malformations (CMs) in FinnGen, validated with placental eQTL data
- Comparison
- Metformin vs insulin during pregnancy
- Outcome
- Overall fetal congenital malformations (CMs)
Methodological detailsdrug-target Mendelian randomization, Bonferroni correction, placental eQTL validation
- Drug-target Mendelian randomization
- Bonferroni correction
- Placental eQTL validation
Pooled result
Overall CMs (meta-analysis)
Relative risk
0.83
95% CI 0.71–0.99
Metforminvs Insulin
RR 0.83 (95% CI 0.71–0.99)
As reported in the abstract
Further pooled results
DTMR: metformin target genes and CMs
- Target genes with significant associations after Bonferroni correction and covariate adjustment (e.g., NDUFS5, NDUFA2), mainly protective for circulatory and musculoskeletal system
- seven of 92
Placental eQTL validation
- Gene-outcome pairs with direction of effects corroborated
- 17
Original publication
Impact of metformin use during pregnancy on fetal congenital malformations across 11 organ systems: a meta-analysis and drug-target Mendelian randomization study. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. Published 31 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →