To our knowledge this is the first study in Brazil that described TB cases and their outcomes in patients requiring intensive care. While effective treatment is available on an outpatient basis, TB hospitalization and mortality rates are substantially high in our center. Patients with an early ICU admission have the highest risk of death. Some factors were significant only in univariate analysis, such as acute renal failure, miliary radiological pattern, smear-positive sputum and rifampicinbased regimens. The small sample size may have lacked sufficient statistical power to reveal an association with some of the factors. These results, if confirmed in a larger prospective study, could contribute to a better understanding of characteristics associated with mortality.