Can metformin reduce the chance of miscarriage?
It appears that continuing metformin use at least through early pregnancy may reduce the chance of miscarriage, especially in patients with recurrent losses. A recent abstract, “Metformin throughout pregnancy in women with polycystic ovary syndrome reduces first-trimester miscarriage” (CJ Glueck et al, J Invest Med 2000), revealed a group’s experience with 59 pregnant PCOS women. Of these, 23 were kept on metformin for the long haul. The other 36 did not continue metformin in pregnancy. This is a very small sample, but the miscarriage rate was 45 percent without metformin and only nine percent with metformin. Chi-square testing showed these rates to be highly significant from a statistical point of view, but their true clinical impact must await further prospective studies. As with any medication used in pregnancy, doctor and patient must assess whether the benefit outweighs any potential risk.
