If $X$ is a geodesic metric space and $x_1,x_2,x_3\in X$, a geodesic triangle $T=\{x_1,x_2,x_3\}$ is the union of the three geodesics $[x_1x_2]$, $[x_2x_3]$ and $[x_3x_1]$ in $X$. The space $X$ is $\delta$-hyperbolic $($in the Gromov sense$)$ if any side of $T$ is contained in a $\delta$-neighborhood of the union of the other two sides, for every geodesic triangle $T$ in $X$. We denote by $\delta(X)$ the sharp hyperbolicity constant of $X$, i.e., $\delta(X):=\inf\{\delta\ge 0: \, X \, \text{ is $\delta$-hyperbolic}\,\}$. The study of hyperbolic graphs is an interesting topic since the hyperbolicity of a geodesic metric space is equivalent to the hyperbolicity of a graph related to it. One of the main aims of this paper is to obtain quantitative information about the distortion of the hyperbolicity constant of the graph $G\setminus e$ obtained from the graph $G$ by deleting an arbitrary edge $e$ from it. These inequalities allow to obtain the other main result of this paper, which characterizes in a quantitative way the hyperbolicity of any graph in terms of local hyperbolicity.