To study whether critically ill alcoholics were more sick and had a worse outcome than other patients treated in the intensive care unit, data were collected during the initial 24 h on 216 consecutive patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Twentysix patients (12%) met the criteria for alcohol abuse. The patients' chronic health 6 months prior to admission and the extent of physiological derangement (Acute Physiology Score and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE] were recorded just as the type and amount of treatment (Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS]. Alcoholics were found to be significantly more sick and had a higher mortality (50% compared to 26%) than other critically ill patients. However, when analyzing the TISS points, no difference was found between the two groups. All survivors were, every third month up to 1 year after admission, asked to fill in a questionnaire indicating their level of activity. No differences were found between the two groups 1 year after admission, but the alcoholics had lost more time due to death. It is concluded that studies with larger number of patients will reveal whether alcoholics constitute a special category of patients with a different prognosis than other ICU patients.