Compliance with eye and foot preventive care in people with self-reported diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean: Pooled, cross-sectional analysis of nine national surveys.

Aims: To estimate the proportion of people with self-reported diabetes receiving eye and foot examinations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of national health surveys in nine countries. Adults aged 25-64 years with self-reported diabetes. We quantified the proportion who reported having an eye examination in the last two years or a foot examination in the last year. We fitted multilevel Poisson regressions to assess socio-demographic (age and sex) and clinical (oral hypoglycemic medication and insulin treatment) variables associated with having had examinations.
Results: There were 7435 people with self-reported diabetes included in the analysis. In three countries (Chile [64%; 95% CI: 56%-71%], British Virgin Islands [58%; 95% CI: 51%-65%], and Brazil [54%; 95% CI: 50%-58%]), >50% of people with diabetes reported having had an eye examination in the last two years. Fewer participants (<50% across all countries) reported having had a foot examination in the last year, with Ecuador having the lowest proportion (12%; 95% CI: 8%-17%). Older people, and those taking oral medication or insulin, were more likely to have eye/foot examinations.
Conclusions: The proportion of eye and foot examinations in people with self-reported diabetes across nine countries in LAC is low.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The opinions in this document belong to the authors alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinons of the institutions to which the authors are affiliated. FJP has received research support (to Emory University) from Dexcom, Tandem, Insulet, Novo Nordisk, and Ideal Medical Technologies, and consulting fees from Dexcom, and Medscape. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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