(Daily Digest News) – Black people who treat their type 2 diabetes with a drug called Metformin are likely to receive more benefit than white people taking the same medication. Metformin is a common medication used to help control blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
A new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism on June 12, found that out of a sample of 19,600 patient records examined, improvement in blood sugar among black patients was significantly higher than improvement in white patients. When taking the highest dose of the drug, both groups saw meaningful improvements in their levels, but white patients recorded a .42 percent drop in their glucose levels while black patients recorded a .9 percent drop.
The data used was gathered from prescription records dating from 1997 to 2013. Glucose levels were measured using a standard A1C test, which measures average blood sugar levels over the duration of four months. Participants in the study underwent no less than two of these tests in four months or more.