Diabetes is a disease that responds well to preventive programmes and that, if not treated in time, has serious implications for physical autonomy in old age. Deaths from this type of cause are typical in low- and middle-income countries, and an increase in the incidence of such diseases is associated with gaps in access to timely health care, among other factors (PAHO, 2002). In the countries studied, the incidence of this type of illness is fairly constant over the different periods.