Public awareness of diabetes prevention and access to subsidised medicines in the Kyrgyz Republic: a cross-sectional study

B.K. Cholponbaev, K.S. Cholponbaev, Baurzhan Kalzhanovich Makhatov, Sairagul Ch. Dootalieva, N.P. Muratova, M.A. Turgunalieva, Aida R. Usupbekova, Zhyldyz M. Temiralieva, Kairat Saparkhanovich Zhakipbekov

Scientific Reports, 2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1038/s41598-026-66013-2
Data confidence 70 medium
How this score is calculated

It is built from checkable properties of the record itself: whether the article has a DOI, how many independent sources confirmed its data, whether the required fields are filled in, and how recent the latest confirmation is. Disagreement between sources and a missing identifier lower it. A value of 80 or above means the record was published without further checking; 60 to 79 means it is published at reduced confidence, with a manual check advisable. A record verified by an editor by hand is never pushed below 90 by a recalculation. This scores our data about the article, not the article itself.

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus requires both early detection and reliable access to treatment. This study assessed public awareness of diabetes and subsidised medicine programmes and described subsidised metformin dispensing in the Kyrgyz Republic. An anonymous cross-sectional online survey of 664 adults from Bishkek and seven regions was conducted between August and October 2024 using a bilingual 20-item questionnaire. Participants were recruited by non-probability convenience and snowball sampling through social media, messaging applications, regional contacts and primary healthcare partner channels. Findings were analysed at item level. Principal proportions are reported with 95% confidence intervals, and verified subgroup distributions were compared using chi-square tests. Overall, 546 respondents (82.2%, 95% CI 79.1–84.9) stated that they knew what diabetes was, and 552 (83.1%, 95% CI 80.1–85.8) recognised that it may remain asymptomatic. Blood glucose had been measured during the previous year in 300 respondents (45.2%, 95% CI 41.4–49.0), and 72 (10.8%, 95% CI 8.7–13.4) reported a diagnosis of diabetes or prediabetes. Awareness of subsidised medicine programmes was reported by 311 participants (46.8%, 95% CI 43.1–50.6), whereas 64 (9.6%, 95% CI 7.6–12.1) reported receiving medicines through a subsidised prescription. In 2023, 69 770 metformin prescriptions were issued and 62 171 were dispensed. Under explicit assumptions of one 60-tablet pack per dispensed prescription and one 500-mg tablet daily, the dispensed quantity corresponded to approximately 10 362 annual-treatment equivalents, or 12.7% of 81 499 registered patients with type 2 diabetes. This is an illustrative programme-volume estimate rather than a direct estimate of unique patient coverage. General recognition of diabetes was common in this online sample, but knowledge of specific features, recent testing and awareness or use of subsidised medicines were less consistent. The non-probability sampling design limits population-level generalisation.