Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of diabetes mellitus in the population

Introduction. The annual increase in prevalence and dangerous consequences make diabetes mellitus (DM) a global problem.
Aim. To review modern studies for the period of 2000–2024 on awareness, treatment and control of DM in various populations with a focus on identifying regional and demographic characteristics.
Materials and methods. The search for publications was carried out in the electronic databases of Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.ru/), PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), eLIBRARY.ru (https://www.elibrary.ru/), international and domestic journals.
Results and conclusion. The results showed a stable trend of increasing prevalence of DM worldwide in a wide range from 2 to 30.1% (1990–2022); awareness of the presence of DM was approximately 60%, with the highest overall rates in high-income countries – 68% and the lowest in low-income countries – 41%. The level of diabetes control varies from 9.8 to 60.4%. Despite the availability of verified tools reflected in the guidelines for DM management, diabetes control is very difficult – more than 50% of diabetic patients do not achieve target levels of glycaemia and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Inefficient control or delayed initiation of treatment increase the risk of DM complications and death. Younger people achieve target HbA1c levels significantly less often than elder people. Compliance with the recommendations for treatment and prevention of DM is consistently assessed by a series of studies: EUROASPIRE V, NHANES, NCD Risk factor Collaboration. There are multiple reasons for inefficient DM control, and the development of individual approaches to improve adherence to treatment, access to medical resources, and independent management of DM is justified.

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