Evolution of prevalence of diabetes and associated hypertension in Brazil: analysis of National Household Sample Survey, 1998, 2003 and 2008

Objective: to estimate the prevalence of diabetes, and associated hypertension for Brazilian states and Federal District, in 2008, and describe its temporal trends according to sociodemographic variables and its distribution in Brazil and regions, in 1998, 2003 and 2008. Methods: cross-sectional study with microdata from the National Household Sample Survey in the selected years; crude and age-and-sex standardized prevalence rates were calculated for the entire population and for subgroups of the sociodemographic variables. Results: in Brazil, the standardized prevalence rate of diabetes increased from 2.9% in 1998 to 4.3% in 2008; for diabetes associated to hypertension, this ratio rose from 1.7% to 2.8% over the same period. These increases were statistically significant for Brazil, as well as for all rates and categories of the studied variables. Conclusion: the prevalence of diabetes and associated hypertersion is growing rapidly in Brazil.