Metformin Use and Risk of Incident Hearing Loss Among Participants With Diabetes: A UK Biobank Cohort Study
Authors' conclusion
In participants with diabetes from the UK Biobank, baseline metformin use was associated with a lower risk of incident hearing loss among men, whereas no significant association was observed among women. However, the interaction term between metformin use and sex was not statistically significant; therefore, it cannot yet be concluded that this association differed by sex.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants diagnosed with diabetes before baseline, without evidence of hearing loss
- Participants
- 24,981 participants
- Exposure
- Baseline metformin use vs no metformin use
- Outcome
- Incident hearing loss (composite:
- Speech-reception-threshold estimate
- Hearing aid use
- Cochlear implantation
- Relevant ICD-10 diagnoses)
- Follow-up
- ≈12 years
Methodological detailssex-stratified analyses, Cox proportional hazards models, fully adjusted
- Sex-stratified analyses
- Cox proportional hazards models
- Fully adjusted
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident hearing loss, by sex · approximately 12 years
Metformin vs No metforminHazard ratio (95% CI)P value
Men; fully adjusted model
0.846(0.725–0.987)
P = 0.0339Women; fully adjusted model
0.977(0.790–1.208)
P = 0.8290- Incident hearing loss events, men
- 725
- Incident hearing loss events, women
- 385
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Metformin Use and Risk of Incident Hearing Loss Among Participants With Diabetes: A UK Biobank Cohort Study. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published 8 September 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →