Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of puerarin combined with metformin in the treatment of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） and prediabetes. Methods 84 patients with NAFLD and prediabetes were recruited in our hospital between April 2014 and June 2017,and they were randomly divided into the control group（n=42） and the observation grou （n=42）,receiving metformin hydrochloride or combination of metformin and puerarin,a herbal medicine,respectively. Fasting blood glucose （FBG）,postprandial 2h blood glucose（2hPG）,glycosylated hemoglobin （HbA1c）,fasting insulin （FINS）,insulin resistance index（HOMA-IR）],and C reactive protein（CRP）,malondialdehyde（MDA）,superoxide dismutase （SOD）,interleukin-6（IL-6）,and tumor necrosis factor α（TNF- α）] were assayed. Results At the end of 3 month observation,blood levels of FBG, 2hPG, FINS and HOMA-IR in the observation group were lower than those in the control group[（5.92±0.51） mmol/L,（6.01±0.81） mmol/L,（5.90±0.62）mmol/L,（1.52±0.42） vs. （6.32±0.35） mmol/L,（6.39±0.71） mmol/L,（6.72±0.83） mmol/L,（1.71±0.39）,respectively,P<0.05];plasma levels of TC,TG and LDL-C in the observation group were lower than those in the control group[（4.15±0.14）mmol/L,（1.12±0.22） mmol/L,（1.91±0.12） mmol/L vs.（4.56±0.21） mmol/L,（1.31±0.13） mmol/L,（2.14±0.11） mmol/L],while HDL-C level was higher than that in the control group [（1.31±0.22） mmol/L vs. （1.11±0.09） mmol/L,P<0.05];serum AST and ALT levels in the observation group were much lower than those in the control group [（49.71±4.75） U/L and（52.16±4.93） U/L vs. （59.13± 4.30） U/L and （77.52 ±7.15） U/L,P<0.05];serum inflammationary cytokine levels were also lower than those in the control （P<0.05）. Conclusion Puerarin combined with metformin is effective in the treatment of patients with NAFLD and prediabetes, which might be related to the regulation of blood glucose and lipid metabolism, and improvement of the liver function.

Key words: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Prediabetes, Puerarin, Metformin, Therapy