OBJECTIVES: : Chronic renal disease patients are often hospitalised. The present study was carried out as no studies have measured such population’s hospitalisation frequency and duration in Colombia nor has their economic burden been analysed. METHODS: : This was a dynamic retrospective cohort study of 223 patients receiving dialysis therapy during 2010. Haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD hospitalisation frequency was measured, as were the number of days spent in hospital, total hospital bill and average cost per day of hospitalisation. Multivariate analysis was used for evaluating factors related to hospitalisation cost (i.e. a generalised linear model with log link). RESULTS: : Hospitalisation rate was 0.72 hospitalisations per patient/year, 6.32 days were spent in hospital per patient/year and average hospitalisation rate was 8.68 days. No differences were observed between haemodialysis patients and peritoneal dialysis regarding such rates. Average hospitalisation bill was $2,567,680. CONCLUSIONS: The study population had higher hospitalisation rates and spent less days in hospital than that stated in other reports. No differences were observed between HD and PD patients regarding these rates