Characterization of People with Diabetes Mellitus Assisted in an Outpatient Follow-up Clinic

Objective: To characterize the profile of people with diabetes, according to sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory variables. Method: Cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, conducted with 110 people with diabetes mellitus treated at outpatient follow-up of a teaching hospital in João Pessoa - PB, Brazil, during February-June 2015. To collect data, we used a form contemplating sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory variables. For the analysis, we used descriptive statistics often measures for categorical variables, mean and standard deviation for numeric variables. Results: The study revealed that the socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics increase the risk of morbidity and mortality for people studied, as well as being impediments to the realization of self-care. Conclusion: The importance of achieving education for self-care was evident, for many of these identified factors can be modified when the person with diabetes has knowledge about their health-disease process, promoting positive attitudes in their care.