BackgroundTo estimate the prevalence, socio-demographic distribution, treatment and control of diabetes mellitus in Panama.MethodsA cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in the provinces of Panama and Colon, applying a survey on cardiovascular risk factors and analyzing biochemical indicators in 3590 persons. A single-stage, probabilistic, and randomized sampling strategy with a multivariate stratification was used. Individuals with a previous medical diagnosis of diabetes, glycemia ≥ 126 mg/dl and/or glycosylated hemoglobin ≥ 6.5% (≥ 48 mmol/mol) were considered with diabetes mellitus. The prevalence estimates were calculated as percentages with 95% confidence intervals and a p value. Logistic regression was used to identify the sociodemographic variables that were significantly associated with diabetes. Odds ratio and p values were calculated using 2 x 2 tables, and a value of p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsOf the participants, 7.3% (262/3590) were aware of having diabetes and 2.2% (78/3590) were unaware. The estimated prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 9.5% (340/3590) and increased in proportion to increasing age. The logistic regression revealed relationships between diabetes and age, sex, area of residence and sociocultural groups. 77.9% of the people aware of having diabetes received treatment and 53.4% have not stabilized the disease.ConclusionsThe research evidenced a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Panama, where being Afro-Panamanian and 50 years of age or older are sociodemographic risk factors for DM. Due to the complications that the disease may present we recommend actively searching for such cases to increase diagnosis of people unaware of having diabetes.