[Which factors affect adhesion to diabetes treatment?].

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the gravest public health problems due to its frequency and importance. Its prevalence is estimated between 2 to 6% of the adult population and 16% for those over 65. Due to the personal, economic and sanitary repercussions which it generates and to its own associated degenerative complications, this disease is responsible for a high percentage of deaths. This sickness can not be cured, but it can be controlled and its degenerative complications reduced over the long-term. In recent years, the medical profession has paid special attention to the adherence to treatment plans to control diabetes, bearing in mind which factors interfere in treatment and which are favorable to treatment. The author values the main determining factors for adherence to a treatment plan, such as age, knowledge about diabetes, self care skills, a patient's ability to accept this disease, self-sufficient beliefs, perception of one's symptoms, treatment variables, stress and social assistance.