CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

IDMPS is an ongoing 5-year multinational observational study documenting the current quality of care provided to people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Feasibility analyses were previously performed to validate the chances of pooling all the data collected during 4 years in Latin America and to identify variables that could be included in the analysis. The aims of this analysis were to describe the characteristics of people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in Latin America as a first step toward further multivariate analysis. The characteristics assessed included profiles of self-management patients, patients' education, type of insulin/devices used, and degree of glycemic control. Data from 2693 T1DM patients were collected by diabetologists (70.3%) and general practitioners (29.7%) between 2005 and 2009 in the form of annual surveys consisting 01 2-week cross-sectional studies. The mean age of the T1DM patients was 38 ± 16 years; 63.6% of the patients were < 40 years and 43.5% were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 23 ± 15 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.7 ± 4.5 kg/m2) with 38.9% having a BMI 01> 25 kg/m2). Mean A1C levels were 8.4 ± 2.1% and 25.1% of patients had A1C levels < 7%. Education on diabetes was received by 65% of the patients, 81.1% performed capillary blood testing (SMBG) and 62.9% self-adjusted their insulin dose. Both SMBG and self-adjustment of insulin was performed by 58.1 % of the patients. The majority of the patients (83.5%) were covered by health insurance. The mean number of years patients were on insulin treatment was 12.5 ± 10.87 years; 65.3% were on basal-prandial insulin, 48.9% used insulin pens, 51.35% used vials and syringes, and 2.2% used pumps. This study presents valuable data on the characteristics of people with T1DM in Latin America and provides useful information for the development of strategies to optimize diabetes control and outcomes in this population.