Father's diabetes medication has no link with congenital diseases in children

It is generally believed that children of parents suffering from diabetes may also have an increased risk of this disease. However, a research has proved this wrong.

Diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, is a major concern for people, especially in families where parents suffer from the disease. It is generally believed that children of parents suffering from diabetes may also have an increased risk of this disease. However, a research states that men suffering from type 2 diabetes who are planning a family can be assured that taking the drug metformin does not increase the risk of congenital disease in their child.

Based on more than 3 million pregnancies and published by the BMJ, the findings suggest that metformin may be considered a suitable medicine to control sugar levels in men planning to have children. Metformin is used to treat type 2 diabetes patients. A recent study in Denmark suggested that people who are using metformin may have some birth defects in their baby (boys).

To understand how the study was conducted

Researchers from Taiwan and Norway attempted to evaluate the relationship between the two. They used national birth registries and prescription databases and identified 619,389 infants with paternal data during the period of sperm development (three months before pregnancy) in Norway during 2010–21 and 25,63,812 infants in Taiwan during 2004–18. of. Of these, fathers of 2,075 (0.3 percent) children in Norway and 15,276 (0.6 percent) children in Taiwan used metformin during the sperm development period.

No risk of congenital disease

Looking only at men with type 2 diabetes and taking into account the father's age and related conditions, the team found that the children who used metformin during the sperm development period had no increased risk of any congenital disease, nor So neither in Norway nor Taiwan. The team from National Taiwan University and the University of Oslo said the results could help doctors decide whether to choose metformin in the treatment of type 2 diabetes in men planning a family.