SummaryIn 380 consecutive intensively treated patients, in-hospital mortality was calculated and correlated with the number of complications, age and number of organ systems involved.162 patients died (4.1 %) and 218 survived (57 %). Of the total of 1,669 diagnoses (4.39 per patient), 683 were present in the surviving (3.13 per patient) and 986 in the non-surviving group (6.09 per patient).Age and number of organ-systems involved did not offer much supplementary help as prognostic indices.In addition those diseases associated with a significant better or worse prognosis were evaluated by statistical methods.Knowledge of the number of complications present in an intensive care patient, seems to be useful for the prediction of the prognosis and the making of therapeutic decisions.