The economic analysis of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and its follow-up study (DPPOS) found that metformin treatment and a lifestyle intervention were both cost-effective approaches for preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults. Metformin treatment led to small savings in healthcare costs over 10 years compared to placebo, while the lifestyle intervention was cost-effective due to the benefits of diabetes prevention and improved health. The DPP enrolled over 3,000 overweight or obese adults with prediabetes and randomly assigned them to a lifestyle intervention, metformin treatment, or placebo. The lifestyle changes and metformin both significantly reduced the rate of progression to type 2 diabetes compared to placebo. The analysis concluded that implementing these interventions in community settings could lead to even greater cost savings.
