AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 9, 2026, 02:09 GMT

Diabetes medicines linked to better blood sugar than metformin

Normal blood sugar returned in 37.3% of recipients versus 29.3% taking metformin in a matched comparison of adults with prediabetes and obesity.

Paper by Vinicius De Sousa Barzon Serra, Ramzi Ibrahim, Julia Zanco, +9Reza Arsanjani · Mayo Clinic

An open blood vessel holds cells with sparse glucose particles, beside gray cells with denser glucose particles and a small peptide chain.

Our read

Interventions

Studied:: Cohort study of 256,492 adults with prediabetes and obesity, against metformin users (Multicenter)
What changed:: Normal blood sugar returned in 37.3% taking GLP-1RAs versus 29.3% taking metformin
The catch:: Body mass index differed after matching and could influence blood sugar normalization
In the record:: The 1,395th paper on GLP-1 receptor agonists with results in people; 4,853 on record in all. Its result on mortality agrees with 198 of 219 other findings on record; 2 point the other way and 19 found no change.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Adults with prediabetes and obesity were compared in a retrospective observational study of 256,492 people, averaging 52.4 years old; 76.1% were female. Researchers used electronic health records from 104 institutions during 2010–2023. They matched people starting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists—a class of blood sugar medicines—or metformin on demographics, health conditions, medications and laboratory results.

The drug class included semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide and dulaglutide. Normal blood sugar returned in 37.3% of recipients versus 29.3% taking metformin. Diabetes developed in 25.1% versus 37.0%, respectively. The drug class was also associated with lower risks of death, heart failure, heart attack and ischemic stroke, a stroke caused by blocked blood flow.

Why it matters

Prediabetes raises the risk of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The comparison bears on whether medicines might help address both risks before diabetes develops.

Caveats

People prescribed the two options may have differed in ways matching did not capture; the abstract also does not give follow-up duration. The study excluded people with prior diabetes, stroke, heart failure, an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or heart disease caused by reduced blood flow.