Abstract: Objective To investigate incidence,cause and mortality of acute respiratory distress syndrom (ARDS) in intensive care unit in Jincheng mineral general hospital.Methods Patients in ICU of Jincheng mineral general hospital from 2004 to 2009 were retrospectively studied.ARDSwas diagnosed according to the 1994 American-European consensus conference criteria.Results Of 1714 patients admitted to ICUs in the same period,there were 60 patients (3.5%) diagnosed as having ARDS.In 16 pulmonary ARDScases (26.7%) ,10 died,mortality was 62.5%.In 44 extro-Pulmonary ARDSpatients (73.3%),21 died,mortality was 47.1%.Pulmonary ARDSmortality was significantly higher than the extro-Pulmonary ARDS(x2 = 13.261 ,P <0.01).Major primary diseases for ARDSwere sepsis (21.7%),pneumonia (16.7%) ,multiple severe truma (25%) ,acute pancreatitis (5%).The overall mortality of ARDSwas 51.67%.septic shock (51.61%) was major lethal cause,while only 29.03% died of respiratory failure.In six years,mortality had no significant changes.Conclusion ARDS frequent in ICU in Jincheng,the mortality remains high,and there is no tendency to decline in recent years.