In 1987, the United States spent 20.3 billion dollars to control diabetes mellitus and its complications as follows:

9.6 billion in direct costs (medical appointments, hospitalizations, laboratory tests, medicine) and 10.7 billion in indirect costs

(absenteeism, unemployment, disability, premature death). These numbers already give an idea of the size of the costs involved in

this pathology. However, in 1992, these values went up to 91.8 billion dollars (45.2 billion in direct costs and 46.6 billion in indirect costs).

In Brazil, from 1999 to 2001, 243.9 million reais were spent just with hospital stays for individuals with diabetes, which represented 2.2%

of the budget for the Ministry of Health.  The average spending per hospital stay attributed to diabetes was U$ 292.00, which was 36%

higher than those not attributed to it.

This high cost is a reason of great concern in developed countries, because it could be reduced in more than 50% if the preventive

and control measures currently available were properly applied.