Digital interest of the population of the commonwealth of independent states countries in diabetes mellitus

Relevance. Diabetes mellitus is one of the significant medical and social challenges facing healthcare. In the context of digital transformation, the Internet has become an important source of health information, while analysis of search activity makes it possible to assess information-seeking behavior among the population. The purpose of the study: to assess the level of interest of Internet users in the Commonwealth of Independent States in the topic of diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods. A comparative analysis of search activity among users in the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan was conducted for the period from January 2019 to December 2025. Data from Yandex Wordstat and Google Trends were used. The analysis was performed on search queries in Russian as well as in the official (national) languages of the participating countries. The volume and dynamics of search queries, their thematic structure, and diabetes mellitus prevalence indicators according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) were analyzed. Results. The highest level of search activity was recorded in the Russian Federation, where the number of queries increased from 1,114,093 in 2019 to 1,919,260 in 2025. In the Republic of Belarus, the number of queries increased from 28,478 to 40,861 over the same period, reaching a peak of 42,065 in 2024. According to Google Trends, which reflects the relative level of search interest in diabetes mellitus and presents it as an index ranging from 0 to 100, the highest mean index values were observed in the Russian Federation (71.47), the Republic of Kazakhstan (55.55), and the Republic of Belarus (51.35). The main topics of search queries were symptoms and signs of diabetes mellitus (24.6%), diagnosis (22.8%), and treatment (18.9%). Digital interest is not a direct reflection of disease prevalence and is also influenced by population size, the level of digitalization, and patterns of information-seeking behavior. Conclusion. The findings confirm sustained interest among Internet users in CIS countries in diabetes mellitus and demonstrate the potential for using search data to assess the information needs of the population and develop digital prevention resources.