Role of Metformin in Preeclampsia: A Systematic Review

Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. Metformin prevents preeclampsia by improving cardiovascular function and reducing gestational weight gain.

The aim of systematic review was to summarize the role of metformin in preeclampsia and report on outcomes of role of metformin in preeclampsia.

To assess the maternal and perinatal outcomes among women with preclamsia with or without metformin supplementation in addition to usual care.

We searched for publications indexed in PubMed, Web of Science, Psyc INFO, and CINAHL databases using a combination of terms such as "metformin" AND "preeclampsia" OR "hypertension" AND "gestation."

Four empirical studies were identified as relevant to our study. We discovered that the incidence of severe preeclampsia was significantly lower in those who received metformin than in those who did not (12.1% vs. 20.7%, aOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.18-0.81). Metformin treatment significantly reduced the incidence of preeclampsia (P = 0.04) and intrauterine growth restriction (P = 0.035) compared to the control group. One week after taking metformin, maternal sEng and sFLT-1 levels were considerably reduced.

Our findings reveal that Metformin significantly reduced the frequency of superimposed preeclampsia and associated factors in a pregnant woman with chronic hypertension. When compared to other drugs, metformin is more likely to avoid pregnancy-related hypertension disorders. The small number of studies studied, combined with their clinical diversity, make it impossible to generalise these findings to larger groups. Therefore, well designed randomised trials on the use of metformin for the prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia are essential.