Metformin: Is its use contraindicated in the elderly?

✍ Scribed by Chalmers, J ;McBain, A M ;Brown, I R F ;Campbell, I W

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 370 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1357-8170
• DOI: 10.1002/pdi.1960090205

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Seventy NIDDM patients (40⩽65y, 30 > 65y) established on metformin for a mean of five years were studied; in both groups, plasma metformin levels correlated with the serum creatinine concentration but bore no relationship to the age of the patients. There was no correlation between age and the postprandial blood lactate levels. Where the serum creatinine concentration was less than 120μmol/1 in patients aged 65y or less, and 140μmol/1 in those over 65y, then plasma metformin levels were in the accepted therapeutic range (1–5μg/ml) and post‐prandial blood lactate levels were not elevated to any clinically significant degree (mean: 1.66mmol/l ⩽65y, 1.53mmol/l > 65y, normal range 0.3–1.4mmol/l). Selecting patients by renal function as estimated by serum creatinine rather than by age alone is recommended for metformin therapy.