Metformin Use Linked to Birth Defects in Boys
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The widely used antidiabetic drug metformin may cause genital birth defects such as undescended testicles and urethral problems in the male offspring of men who take the medication, researchers have found. The association appears to involve the effects of metformin on the development of sperm during a critical window prior to conception. Female offspring were not affected. Although previous studies have linked diabetes with fertility problems in men, the latest study is the first to show that these problems can result from treatment rather than the disease itself, according to the researchers, whose findings appear in the March 28 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
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@nupur This is the first data to suggest that paternal metformin [use] may be associated with birth defects in children. As such, it would be early to begin to alter clinical practice," Michael Eisenberg, MD, director of male reproductive medicine and surgery, Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, who is a co-author of the study, told Medscape Medical News.