Maja Marcus - National evidence on glucose-lowering medication use for

Journal article

Felix Teufel, Pia Roddewig, M. Marcus, M. Theilmann, Glennis Andall-Brereton, Krishna K Aryal, Sina Azadnajafabad, P. Bovet, M. Dorobanțu, F. Farzadfar, C. Houehanou, A. Sibai, Andrew C. Stokes, Demetre Labadarios, M. Gurung, J. Jørgensen, K. Karki, N. Lunet, Sahar Saeedi Moghaddam, K. Mwangi, L. Sturua, Till Bärnighausen, David Flood, P. Geldsetzer, Albertino Damasceno, Justine I Davies, Sebastian Vollmer, Mohammed K. Ali, J. Manne‐Goehler, C. Bulstra
Nature Communications, 2025

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMedCentral PubMed

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APA Click to copy
Teufel, F., Roddewig, P., Marcus, M., Theilmann, M., Andall-Brereton, G., Aryal, K. K., … Bulstra, C. (2025). National evidence on glucose-lowering medication use for diabetes from 62 low- and middle-income countries. Nature Communications.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Teufel, Felix, Pia Roddewig, M. Marcus, M. Theilmann, Glennis Andall-Brereton, Krishna K Aryal, Sina Azadnajafabad, et al. “National Evidence on Glucose-Lowering Medication Use for Diabetes from 62 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” Nature Communications (2025).

MLA Click to copy
Teufel, Felix, et al. “National Evidence on Glucose-Lowering Medication Use for Diabetes from 62 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” Nature Communications, 2025.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{felix2025a,
  title = {National evidence on glucose-lowering medication use for diabetes from 62 low- and middle-income countries},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  author = {Teufel, Felix and Roddewig, Pia and Marcus, M. and Theilmann, M. and Andall-Brereton, Glennis and Aryal, Krishna K and Azadnajafabad, Sina and Bovet, P. and Dorobanțu, M. and Farzadfar, F. and Houehanou, C. and Sibai, A. and Stokes, Andrew C. and Labadarios, Demetre and Gurung, M. and Jørgensen, J. and Karki, K. and Lunet, N. and Moghaddam, Sahar Saeedi and Mwangi, K. and Sturua, L. and Bärnighausen, Till and Flood, David and Geldsetzer, P. and Damasceno, Albertino and Davies, Justine I and Vollmer, Sebastian and Ali, Mohammed K. and Manne‐Goehler, J. and Bulstra, C.}
}

Abstract

Given rising diabetes prevalence globally, access to diabetes treatments is gaining urgency. Yet, it remains unknown which glucose-lowering medication types people with diabetes across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) use. In this cross-sectional analysis, we pooled nationally representative data of 223,283 adults aged ≥25 years in 62 LMICs from 2009 to 2019. We found that 51.9% [95%-CI: 49.6%, 54.2%] of 21,715 individuals with diabetes were undiagnosed. Among individuals with diagnosed diabetes, 18.6% [95%-CI: 14.5%, 23.4%] reported using no glucose-lowering medication, 57.3% [95%-CI: 53.1%, 61.4%] only used oral medication, 19.5% [95%-CI: 17.6%, 21.5%] used oral medication and insulin, and 4.7% [95%-CI: 3.9%, 5.6%] used insulin alone. In low-income countries, fewer individuals with diabetes were diagnosed and treated than in middle-income countries. Yet, among individuals who did get diagnosed, insulin use was two-thirds higher in low-income countries (38.9% [95%-CI: 31.6%, 46.7%]) compared to middle-income countries (23.2%; 95%-CI: 21.0%, 25.5%]). This finding could suggest a need for earlier diagnosis and treatment initiation. Our results can inform national and regional drug procurement efforts across LMICs.