The diabetic foot is a complex condition. Along its course, it may require primary health care at the beginning, tertiary health care when more severe complications arise, and hospitalization when specialized management involving complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures becomes peremptory. Determining frequencies of diabetic foot in hospitalized patients provides baseline data on the status of this condition aiming to an effective decision making process at the public health level. This transversal study consisted in analyzing data of 11 357 inpatients from 135 health centers in 9 Latin American countries in order to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, the frequency of diabetic foot and related parameters in hospitalized patients in the region. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 18.6% (IC 95%; 14.1-15.4). The rate of diabetic foot was 14.8% (IC 95%; 14.1-15.4) and that of diabetic foot classified as Wagner >= 1 was 5.8% (IC 95%; 4.8-5.6). Diabetic foot was the reason for admission for 3.7% of all inpatients and for 20% of those who were diabetic. In our knowledge, this study is the largest in Latin America, and lays the foundation for further advances in the knowledge of the burden of diabetic foot.