The status of diabetes care in Mexican population: are we making a difference? Results of the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2006

objective: examine clinical indicators to evaluate diabetes care in mexico. material and methods: diabetics (self reported, with therapy) were examined with standardized questionnaires, anthropometry, glucose, lipids and glycohemoglobin. data were analyzed statistically. results: there were 2 644 patients, 677 cases without access to medical care (73% women), most lived in rural communities and spoke aboriginal dialect. prevalence of obesity for private access group was 21.2%, for other or non access group was between 31 and 65%. the group without or basic education was most common, 76% of the cases had hdl <40 mg/dl and 36% had hypertriglyceridemia. only 6.6% of patients had hba1c <7%. there was no significant difference between hba1c values observed in the group with or without access. most patients were treated with oral agents. a significant group was without therapy. assessments for complications was infrequent. conclusions: current model for diabetes care in mexico is inefficacious and a paradigm change is necessary.