OBJECTIVES: To describe the demographic features, reasons for hospital admission and factors associated with hospital mortality in patients admitted to intensive care in Colombia. METHOD: A cohort study of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Of 89 ICUs identified in Colombia, 20 in ten cities were invited to gather information on 200 consecutive patients admitted to each ICU. RESULTS: Three thousand sixty-six patient cases were available for analysis. The mean age was 53 years and 43% were women (men vs. women, p < 0.001). The most frequent cause of admission was medical (63.9%), acute myocardial infarction patients (7.1%) comprising the largest group. Severity of disease measured as APACHE II and III was a mean 14.0 (SD 6.9) and 48.3 (SD 23.5), respectively. Multivariate analysis, independent of adjustment for severity (APACHE II or III), showed that the factors associated with hospital death were the need for mechanical ventilation, pupillary response, transfer from a medical ward, and management by the ICU team prior to admission (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The most common reason for admission to an ICU in Colombia was myocardial infarction. Besides severity of disease, other variables related to medical care in Colombia are associated with hospital mortality, such as invasive ventilation. Although these variables may be artifacts related to disease severity, they are more likely to be related to quality of care.