Introduction:

Diabetes is one of the main causes of chronic kidney disease in Chile and in the world. It is essential to prevent the progression of diabetic nephropathy to prevent the evolution of chronic kidney disease.

Objective:

To determine the characteristics of diabetic patients who started renal replacement therapy with hemodialysis due to diabetic nephropathy.

Material and Method:

A descriptive quantitative study was carried out, with diabetic patients and on hemodialysis, by applying the Morisky-Green test and a sociodemographic assessment instrument. The subjects were selected by intentional sampling, after their informed consent.

Results:

The subjects studied were mostly women, with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in adulthood, with a low economic level, basic and intermediate level education, and belonging to the Public Health System. In most of the subjects it was indicated that they had 5 or more years with diabetes disease at the time of starting dialysis. 71.4% of them were not referred to the nephrologist and 57.1% said they had not adhered to the treatment, after starting dialysis.

Conclusions:

The profile of the diabetic patient who begins on hemodialysis in our study is mostly middle-aged women, with a higher previous diagnosis of T2D over T1D, and with more than 20 years with the diagnosis of DM. Regarding the socioeconomic profile, patients with low economic income and no training or basic studies predominate. Finally, men had better adherence to treatment than women.