Introduction:

Diabetic nephropathy is among the most important complications of diabetes. Development ranges from early stages to end-stage chronic renal failure, requiring entrance into a renal replacement therapy program.

Objectives:

To identify and synthesise the scientific evidence on renal replacement therapy in diabetic patients.

Methodology:

An integrative review was carried out following the PRISMA guidelines in the PubMed and Scielo databases. The search strategy was established with the following MeSH terms: "Diabetes Mellitus", "Renal Dialysis", "Hemodialysis", "Kidney diseases", "Renal replacement therapy", "Kidney treatment", "Diabetic foot".

Results:

Twenty-two articles were selected. Among which 17 were systematic reviews, 1 clinical practice guideline, 1 cross-sectional descriptive study, 1 analytical observational study, and 2 book chapters. The following variables emerged from the review: type of diabetes, age, evolution, type of renal replacement therapy, diabetic foot and prevention.

Conclusions:

A great heterogeneity in the evolution of diabetic nephropathy is observed. Determining renal replacement therapy for diabetic patients is therefore a challenge. Management of the diabetic foot, as the main complication in such patients, focuses on prevention, supported by good education. The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy is increasing, thus an improvement in the disease prevention strategy could change the progression of the disease.