The importance of diabetes education in therapeutic adherence and prevention of chronic complications

Abstract

Currently, diabetes mellitus is the most prevalent endocrine disease worldwide. According to the 2019 atlas of the IDF (International Diabetes Federation), a worldwide prevalence of 463 million diabetic individuals is estimated, considering the age group between 20 and 79 years. Of these, about 90% correspond to type 2 diabetes mellitus and about half (50.1%) are unaware of the diagnosis. Several studies have shown that prevention and education in diabetes is a powerful tool to reduce the increasing incidence of this disease and to reduce the impact of this pathology in the long term, both in quality of life and in the manifestations of chronic complications, in addition to reducing public health costs. In this work, we seek to assess the knowledge of diabetic patients and their influence on glycemic control and the natural evolution of the disease.