You will be shown a claim related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the abstract of a biomedical research paper. Each sentence from the abstract will be on a separate line. Your task is to return a JSON object with two fields:

- "verdict": The fact-checking verdict. If the information in the abstract supports the claim, write "SUPPORT". If the abstract contradicts the claim, write "CONTRADICT".
- "evidence": An array of sentences providing evidence for the verdict. Please copy all relevant sentences verbatim from the abstract.

For instance, if the model were given the claim "the COVID vaccine is safe for healthy adults", the output might be
{
  "verdict": "SUPPORT",
  "evidence": ["Our findings indicate that the risks of severe COVID vaccine side effects are low for healthy adults."]
}

Claim: Metformin treatment was associated with decreased mortality in covid-19 patients with diabetes in a retrospective analysis

Abstract:
Metformin was proposed to be a candidate for host-directed therapy for COVID-19.
However, its efficacy remains to be validated.
In this study, we compared the outcome of metformin users and nonusers in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with diabetes.
Hospitalized diabetic patients with confirmed COVID-19 in the Tongji Hospital of Wuhan, China, from January 27, 2020 to March 24, 2020, were grouped into metformin and no-metformin groups according to the diabetic medications used.
The demographics, characteristics, laboratory parameters, treatments, and clinical outcome in these patients were retrospectively assessed.
A total of 283 patients (104 in the metformin and 179 in the no-metformin group) were included in this study.
There were no significant differences between the two groups in gender, age, underlying diseases, clinical severity, and oxygen-support category at admission.
The fasting blood glucose level of the metformin group was higher than that of the no-metformin group at admission and was under effective control in both groups after admission.
Other laboratory parameters at admission and treatments after admission were not different between the two groups.
The length of hospital stay did not differ between the two groups (21.0 days for metformin versus 19.5 days for no metformin, P = 0.74).
However, in-hospital mortality was significantly lower in the metformin group (3/104 (2.9%) versus 22/179 (12.3%), P = 0.01).
Antidiabetic treatment with metformin was associated with decreased mortality compared with diabetics not receiving metformin.
This retrospective analysis suggests that metformin may offer benefits in patients with COVID-19 and that further study is indicated.
{"verdict": "SUPPORT", "evidence": ["Antidiabetic treatment with metformin was associated with decreased mortality compared with diabetics not receiving metformin.", "This retrospective analysis suggests that metformin may offer benefits in patients with COVID-19 and that further study is indicated."]}