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The British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease
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Metformin: an important tool for endocrinology in the West Indies. New tricks for an old drug

Surujpal Teelucksingh

Department of Clinical Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope. Trinidad, WI, pteelucksingh{at}gmail.com

Lexley M Pinto Pereira

Department of Paraclinical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope. Trinidad, WI

Against the backdrop of an obesity pandemic, comes an increasing prevalence of metabolic (e.g. type 2 diabetes mellitus) and reproductive abnormalities (e.g. polycystic ovarian syndrome) mediated by the phenomenon of insulin resistance. Metformin is an inexpensive and widely available drug which partly through an insulin sensitising action has an antidiabetic action with unique cardioprotective effects and which has value in preventing progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes. Despite mounting favourable data its role in polycystic ovarian syndrome remains unsettled. The recent finding for its safety and efficacy in gestational diabetes, however, will no doubt lift concerns over its use in women in the reproductive age group. One immediate result would be its earlier and greater therapeutic application in under-resourced environments where cost and emotional barriers to insulin exist.

Key Words: gestational diabetes • insulin resistance syndrome • metformin • polycystic ovarian syndrome • pregnancy • reproductive age • West Indies

The British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease, Vol. 9, No. 5, 232-236 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1474651409346766
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