A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials on the effect of metformin vs. pioglitazone monotherapy on plasma adiponectin levels among patients with diabetes mellitus

The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine

Table 2 Comparison of ADP, HOMA-IR, HbA1c, BMI, and FPG between T2DM patients who underwent pioglitazone vs. metformin monotherapy

PIO vs. MET	Pre-outlier analysis							Post-outlier analysis							Effect of outlier analysis
PIO vs. MET	n	AM	SMD	95% CI	P^A	I²	P^H	n	AM	SMD	95% CI	P^A	I²	P^H	Effect of outlier analysis
ADP	5	R	0.99	0.06, 1.39	<0.00001*	49%	0.10**	4^a	F	0.82	0.53, 1.11	<0.0001*	0%	0.53 ns	HO
HOMA-IR	5	F	−0.52	−0.79, −0.26	0.0001*	40%	0.15 ns	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
HbA1c	4	R	−0.22	−0.69. 0.25	0.36 ns	61%	0.05**	3^b	F	0.02	−0.30, 0.35	0.88 ns	0%	0.51 ns	HO
BMI	5	F	0.30	0.05, 0.56	0.02*	0%	0.77 ns	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
FPG	4	F	−0.05	−0.34, 0.23	0.71 ns	0%	0.89 ns	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

ADP Adiponectin, HOMA-IR Homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance, BMI Body mass index, FPG Fasting plasma glucose, T2DM Type 2 diabetes mellitus, PIO Pioglitazone, MET Metformin, n Number of studies, AM Analysis model, SMD Standardized mean difference, CI Confidence interval, P^A p value for association, I² Degree of heterogeneity, P^H p value for heterogeneity, R Random effects model, F Fixed effects model, ns Not significant, n/a Not applicable, HO Homogenous outcomes
^*p value is significant if <0.05
^**p value is significant if <0.10
^aStudy of [26] was omitted from the post-outlier analysis
^bStudy of [10] was omitted from the post-outlier analysis