The Effects Of Metformin And Diabinese On Female Sex Hormone Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients
[UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL (UITH), ILORIN, KWARA STATE]

Another mechanism of the reduced estrogen and progesterone recorded in this study may be the indirect reduction of estrogen by the action of metformin on testosterone which invariably reduces estrogen level (Key et al., 2011).
The increase in mean fasting blood sugar level recorded in the patients on anti-diabetic drugs compare with the control subjects may be attributed to the fact that the test subjects are known and confirmed diabetic patients. This observation correlate with the findings of various authors, who documented the increase in fasting blood sugars in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus compare to normal control (Campagnoli et al., 2013; Shahghebi et al., 2013). However, Kazerooni et al. (2010) performed a study in Shiraz and found no significant change in blood sugar of diabetic patients after metformin administration over a period of 3 months and 6 months. However the difference in the level of fasting blood sugar recorded in these various studies might be attributed to the doses of metformin and other anti-diabetic agents used.
In the present study, the comparison of biochemical parameters (Estrogen, Progesterone and Fasting blood sugar) between diabetic patient on Metformin only and diabetic patients on combined metformin with other drugs (glimepiride) shows an insignificant (p>0.05) increased in the level of estrogen (36.15 ±4.33), progesterone (0.78 ±0.61) and fasting blood sugar (9.22 ±0.42) of patients using metformin alone compare with patients using metformin with other drugs (29.20 ±3.85; 0.74 ±0.17 and 7.80 ±1.16 respectively). This finding is in agreement with the previous works of Eriksson and Nystrom (2015), in which various antidiabetic agents were documented to reduce fasting blood sugar. Various studies confirm the positive effect of metformin on most metabolic functions such as better blood glucose control, lipid profile improvement, and decrease in cystic inflammation (Yu Ng et al., 2001; Onalan et al., 2005; Banaszewska et al., 2006). More so the action of these antidiabetic agents may directly affect the levels of estrogen and progesterone which may account for the insignificant differences observed in patients using metformin and patients combining metformin and other drugs.
In this study the correlation of duration of diabetes and BMI with biochemical parameters (estrogen, progesterone and fasting blood sugar) in diabetic patients using antidiabetic drugs (metformin and diabinese) indicated a significant correlation between biochemical parameters and duration of diabetes. Estrogen and duration of illness (rValue 0.778; p <0.037); progesterone (rValue 0.97; p <0.004) and fasting blood sugar (rValue 0.773;p <0.038). However, data indicated no significant correlation between biochemical parameters and body mass index of the patients. This finding is in agreement with the report of Verma et al. (2006) who reported a significant correlation between the duration of ailment and fasting blood sugar.
5.1    CONCLUSION
This study has established that antidiabetic drugs metformin and diabinese have a lowering effect on female sex hormone (estrogen and progesterone).
5.2    RECOMMENDATION
It is therefore recommended that Physicians be conscious of the secondary effects of antidiabetic drugs on other organs of the body. Also, these effects of antidiabetic drugs on other biochemical analytes should be performed probably on a larger population.