The prevalence of diabetes in Brazil throughout the 21st century

Abstract

Diabetes is recognized as one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. In Brazil, it is also a highly prevalent disease, with the country having the fourth largest diabetic population in the world, with an estimated 13 million people living with the disease in the country. Diabetes is a multifactorial disease that causes harm to the physical health of citizens and to the economy of the Brazilian state, with costs that could reach R$27 billion by 2030. Regarding the direct consequences, the main clinical consequences for the patient are the increased risk of acute myocardial infarction, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, chronic renal failure, diabetic neuropathy and blindness. The greatest concern regarding the disease is related to its growth in Brazil throughout this century, with a progressive increase shown by global and national surveys. Among the largest studies on the subject is the VIGITEL tracking, which analyzes the health profile of the Brazilian population through telephone calls. Although it is not a completely reliable method for showing the real numbers of the disease, data collection provides a basis for government health planning, and was the basis for the study of this article. According to the VIGITEL survey, there was an increase in the percentage of adults living with diabetes between 2006 and 2021, which went from 5.5% prevalence in 2006 to 9.1% in 2021. When analyzing only the percentage of women, the numbers are even more worrying, with a prevalence of 9.6% of the female population living with the disease. The differences in prevalence between the female and male populations can be discussed based on cultures of distant care, with the male population historically seeking less health care. When talking about educational differences, the population with less time of schooling has a higher percentage of those affected by the disease. The causes are also multifactorial, and range from a lack of knowledge about the disease to financial difficulties in seeking specialized care or diagnostic tests in the private sector. The data collected by the study raises an alert for civil society and those responsible for public health planning, showing that the measures taken so far have not been satisfactory in preventing diabetes.