1.
Metformin for Prevention of Anthropometric and Metabolic Complications of Androgen Deprivation Therapy in Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Radical Radiotherapy: A Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial.
Usmani, N, Ghosh, S, Sanghera, KP, Ong, AD, Koul, R, Dubey, A, Ahmed, S, Quon, H, Yee, D, Parliament, M, et al
International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics. 2023;(2):317-326
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with prostate cancer undergoing treatment with radical radiation therapy (RT) plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) experience a constellation of deleterious metabolic and anthropometric changes related to hypogonadism that are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We assessed the effect of metformin versus placebo to blunt the adverse effects of ADT on body weight, waist circumference, and other metabolic parameters. METHODS AND MATERIALS This phase 2, multicenter, randomized controlled trial (RCT) randomized normoglycemic men with locally advanced prostate cancer receiving radical RT and ADT (18-36 months) in a 1:1 ratio to receive metformin 500 mg by mouth 3 times a day (for 30-36 months) versus identical placebo. RESULTS From December 2015 to October 2019, 83 men were randomized with median follow-up of 23 months. Baseline mean body mass Index (BMI) of the cohort was 30.2 (range 22.2-52.5). Change in mean weight relative to baseline was lower among men who received metformin compared with placebo at 5 months (-1.80 kg, P = .038), but was not significant with longer follow-up (1 year: +0.16 kg, P = .874). Although participants on ADT had increases in waist circumference in both study arms, metformin did not significantly reduce these changes (1 year: +2.79 cm (placebo) versus +1.46 cm (metformin), P = .336). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was lower in the metformin arm (-0.32 mmol/L) compared with the placebo arm (-0.03 mmol/L) at 5 months (P = .022), but these differences were not significant with longer follow-up (1 year: -0.17 mmol/L vs -0.19 mmol/L, P = .896). There were no differences in HbA1C, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and total cholesterol by study arm. CONCLUSIONS Men receiving radical RT and ADT gained weight and had increases in waist circumference over time that metformin did not significantly mitigate. Although this study did not observe any preventive effect of metformin on the anthropometric and metabolic complications of ADT, metformin continues to be studied in phase 3 RCTs in this patient population to assess its potential antineoplastic effects.
2.
Loneliness and Health in Older Adults: A Mini-Review and Synthesis.
Ong, AD, Uchino, BN, Wethington, E
Gerontology. 2016;(4):443-9
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that perceived social isolation or loneliness is a major risk factor for physical and mental illness in later life. This review assesses the status of research on loneliness and health in older adults. Key concepts and definitions of loneliness are identified, and the prevalence, correlates, and health effects of loneliness in older individuals are reviewed. Theoretical mechanisms that underlie the association between loneliness and health are also described, and illustrative studies examining these mechanisms are summarized. Intervention approaches to reduce loneliness in old age are highlighted, and priority recommendations for future research are presented.
3.
Resilience comes of age: defining features in later adulthood.
Ong, AD, Bergeman, CS, Boker, SM
Journal of personality. 2009;(6):1777-804
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
Historically, resilience research has been largely the purview of developmental investigators dealing with early childhood and adolescence. This research primarily focused on at-risk children who were exposed to significant and severe life adversities (e.g., extreme poverty, parental mental illness, community violence). The study of resilience in adulthood and later life, by comparison, remains largely understudied. In this article, we describe a program of research on adulthood resilience. We begin with a selective review of the broad literature on resilience, giving emphasis to the major approaches, empirical findings, and guiding principles that characterize prior studies. We then summarize our own approach to the phenomenon of resilience and illustrate select parts of our previous and ongoing studies of older adults. Findings from this research add to the growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that resilience is a common phenomenon that emerges from the coordinated orchestration of basic human adaptive processes.