[Several clinico-epidemiologic aspects of diabetes mellitus]

A representative sample of 80 diabetic patients was studied at a First Lovel Unity of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Guadalajara, Mexico. 60 percent were women, 95.5 percent were non-dependent on insulin, in 67 percent the illness had less than ten years of evolution, 37 percent reported family history of diabetes, and 61 percent had over-weight problems. With regard to socioeconomic characteristics, 45 percent were working-class people, and 41 percent were housewives; 58 percent had elementary studies. From a clinical viewpoint, the most frequent complication was neuropathy; 38 percent had blood glucose under 150 ml per 100 cc. Basic information about their illness had been given to 33 percent of the patients; 17 percent followed a diet regularly, 22 percent controlled their illness by themselves, 79 percent used sulfanil-urea as medication, 53.7 percent had between two and nine visits to the doctor a year and one or two laboratory exams in the same period. This profile permits the characterization of diabetes as a social illness in our medium, as well as the development of some strategies for its care.