Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one the world’s main public health problems and currently affects approximately 246 million people, which

is approximately 5.9% of the world’s adult population and it is responsible for 3.8 million deaths worldwide. It is estimated that by the

year 2025 the disease will affect 380 million people if preventive measures are not taken. There are approximately 10 million cases

in Brazil. This number is expected to increase from 25 to 50% over the next few years because, among other reasons, of the population’s

increasingly longer life span.

There are different kinds of diabetes, of which the better known are type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1, formerly known as insulin-dependent

diabetes mellitus or juvenile-onset diabetes) and type 2 (DM2, formerly known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes).

In Porto Alegre, for every 100 people between 30 and 69 years-old, approximately 9 present the disease, which makes it the second city

with the highest frequency of individuals with diabetes in the country.

Regarding diabetes in childhood and adolescence, DM1, it is said that 65 thousand new cases are diagnosed every year and the

frequency of cases in the United States is 1.93 per 1000, ranging from 5 to 17 years of age. Inferring from these data, one could say

there are approximately 9000 children and adolescents with this pathology in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

But the incidence (number of new cases that appear every year) varies a lot throughout the world.

In the United States it is 9.4 and in Brazil the estimate is 7.8 cases/100 thousand people under age 20. In the city of Passo Fundo, in

Rio Grande do Sul, the incidence is 12.4 cases/ 100 thousand. Since this age group accounts for approximately 40% of the population

in our country, it is supposed that 312 new cases occur per year in Rio Grande do Sul.