dc.description.abstract | Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the growing public health problems that assumes epidemic proportions in most countries. It is estimated that the world population with diabetes is in the order of 415 million, that is, 8.8% of adults aged between 20 and 79 years. Half, one out of every two adults, has not yet been diagnosed and is unaware of the condition. (DEEDWANIA and FONSECA, 2005; IDF, 2015; SBD, 2015; WHO, 2016b). In relation to Latin America about 29.6 million, 9.6% of the population, are carriers of the disease. The mortality associated with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in Latin America is higher than that resulting from HIV/AIDS infection (1.1 million in 2015), tuberculosis (1.5 million in 2014) and malaria (438 000 in 2015) added together. (WHO, 2016c). According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) (IDF, 2015), there are about 14.3 million people with diabetes in Brazil, that is, 9.4% of the national population. Thus, Brazil ranks fourth among the ten countries with the highest number of cases of Diabetes, ranking only below the United States, India and China. Mortality due to DM in the Brazilian population is also expressive, equivalent to approximately 130,700 deaths. (IDF, 2015) | en |